Laurent Gbagbo

Last week Ouattara talked of amending the constitution to impose an age limit on presidential candidates but that looks like a vindictive attempt to block off any political future for Bédié or former President Laurent Gbagbo before the latter is allowed to return home which Ouattara has promised to do...

But by doing this his opponents risk alienating Ivorian electors who have bitter memories of the six-month blockade and civil war that followed Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to acknowledge his United Nations-certified defeat in the 2010 contest...

Côte d'Ivoire is a key ally and trade market and Ouattara himself has been a trusted strategic support – in marked contrast to Laurent Gbagbo whose indulgence of populist nationalism stirred deep unease for successive French governments...

The compliant CEI has also helpfully ruled that both former parliamentary speaker and militia leader Guillaume Soro and ex-President Laurent Gbagbo both potential candidates may not vote let alone stand for office...

Waiting in the wings is Laurent Gbagbo Ouattara's old rival preparing to return to Côte d'Ivoire to cheer on the opposition...

In October Ouattara will face opponents representing a broader range of opinion than in 2015 when the hegemonic RHDP's main challenger was Pascal Affi N'Guessan leading the half of the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) that was no longer loyal to former head of state Laurent Gbagbo...

They could shape the contest by mobilising anti-Ouattara opinion even from their enforced residence in Europe: they are former parliamentary speaker Guillaume Soro and former President Laurent Gbagbo...

The defence minister was always more of a natural politician than Gon Coulibaly more experienced in the campaigning arts and always careful to nurture links to groups beyond the RHDP base including some supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo...

Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo although free to travel once flights are restored post-Covid-19 could wait months before learning whether the International Criminal Court will uphold his January 2019 acquittal on alleged human rights crimes against the appeal of chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (AC Vol 61 No 12 Affairs of state and of the heart)...

In 2011 Zuma angered Angola and Nigeria among others for stationing the navy ship SAS Drakensberg off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire during the fighting which ended the rule of Laurent Gbagbo (AC Vol 52 No 4 Democracy standoff)...

This time it's the Court's surprise decision on 29 May to lift its travel restrictions on former President Laurent Gbagbo and his ally Charles Blé Goudé as they await the outcome of the prosecution's appeal against their acquittal...

The fact that Bakayoko unlike Gon Coulibaly has kept open channels to former President Laurent Gbagbo's Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) adds a further element of intrigue...

Gon has been a key lieutenant to Ouattara for three decades loyal even as he was shut out of presidential races in 1995 and 2000 by the ethnically discriminatory ivoirité laws and at his side in Abidjan's Golf hotel in 2010-11 barricaded by the forces of Laurent Gbagbo after the latter refused to acknowledge election defeat...

Back in 2010 Soro feeling betrayed by ex-President Laurent Gbagbo's rejection of the 2010 presidential election result delivered victory to Ouattara by taking his rebel army across the political divide (AC Vol 56 No 12 The election gets messier & Vol 52 No 6 Guns votes and cocoa)...