Nearly five hundred days after his final acquittal by the International Criminal Court, President Laurent Gbagbo is pardoned by his successor Alassane Ouattara. The announcement was made last night on the occasion of the 62e anniversary of the independence of Côte d’Ivoire. She is already leaving part of the Ivorian press unsatisfied.
For once, and exclusively, a look at the first comments from the Ivorian press which will be published – not tomorrow, Monday, a public holiday – but Tuesday, on newsstands, in Côte d’Ivoire.
Starting with the newspaper Timeclose among those close to Laurent Gbagbo, and in which the jurist Roger Dakouri will express his disappointment in these terms, qualifying this pardon as ” Wrong way “, but also by denouncing” a glaring and unjustified lack of will to move resolutely towards reconciliation “. According to him, ” Ouattara leaves the Ivorians hungry. We thought he was going to free all civilian and military prisoners. What no ! », will launch Roger Dakouri again, questioned last night by Time.
Another comment to be published on Tuesday, that of Evening Info. This independent Ivorian newspaper will consider that the pardon granted to Laurent Gbagbo constitutes ” a step towards national reconciliation, a strong decision by the Head of State towards his fiercest political adversary but which is far from being decisive (…) The supporters of the president of the PPA-CI would have liked the total erasure of his conviction by an amnesty law “. From the pen of Ivorian journalist Armand Depeyla, Evening Info will consider that ” behind this presidential pardon, there could be hidden, surreptitiously, a desire of the president of the Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la democratie et la paix to block the way to Laurent Gbagbo in 2025 », scheduled date of the next presidential election in Côte d’Ivoire.
Ukraine, towards a Korean-style score or Apocalypse Now ?
” where is ukraine going ? asks the weekly Marianne. After warning his readers about a ” World War III which, according to this magazine, “ is not ruled out », Marianne publishes an analysis signed by the former Secretary of State and president of the association Les Chantiers de la liberté, Pierre Lellouche, according to whom, in this armed conflict, ” two hypotheses, and only two : this war can only end, in the best case for Ukraine, with a Korean-style situation : that is to say, a line of ceasefire and demarcation which will consecrate the stranglehold of Russia on the east and the south of Ukraine, the rest of the country, amputated and neutralized by force, remaining at the expense of the European taxpayer, since for convenience, again, the EU has just opened its doors to Kyiv’s accession ; second hypothesis, the worst as in 1914, a local territorial conflict, nationalist passion, the game of alliances and the bewilderment of sleepwalking leaders can lead to a new collective suicide – one again ! – but which, this time, will possibly be nuclear… Can we still hope that our leaders will finally wake up and decide to sit around a table to stop this disastrous drift? ? », begs Pierre Lellouche in Marianne.
Plea for Afghan Women
Weeklies The Obs and Point traveled to Afghanistan to witness the fate reserved for women by the Taliban. As observed Pointbarely a year after coming to power, the new masters of the country “ have already erased Afghan women from public space. In Kabul, posters depicting women have been painted black. In shop windows, the faces of female mannequins have been covered with a thick veil “.
In Point, women testify with uncovered faces. As this former counter-terrorism officer at the Ministry of the Interior testifies. Mursal Heidari, that’s her name, now lives with her husband and three children in a basement room: ” I can’t sleep anymore she told this weekly, and I spend my time waiting for the next day “. As reported Point, this 30-year-old is a graduate in political science. Previously, she aspired to ” become general “, she who was in charge of the fight against Islamist fighters and who was” recognized by its peers for the quality of its work “, points out this newspaper. ” It was a time of great excitement, she says about the old republican regime, which allowed Afghan women to work despite tribal traditions that are still tenacious. We were building a new country, and as a woman I was proud to defend it. But that was before… Now, “ to kill boredom, she spent her day tattooing her feet with henna. Her ample scarf reveals a few rebellious brown locks “. Heart touching.
Report also from the weekly The Obs in a clandestine school for girls. ” Most students want to become doctors to help Afghan women, and also out of pragmatism : it is now the only female profession tolerated by the Taliban with that of nurse and midwife “, explains this magazine. Which also evokes the wedding ” girls ” from the age of one year » and who are « sold by their families ruined by war and threatened by famine “. The Obs thus reporting the case of a child sold to her now in-laws ” 10 000 afghanis or 108 euros “. Taboo subject, forbidden subject, admit The Obs“ but ubiquitous in the poorest regions “.