It is a national holiday in Côte d’Ivoire. The country commemorates, this Sunday, August 7, the 62 years of its independence with a large parade, throughout the morning, of the Defense and Security forces, in the political capital Yamoussoukro. Former Ivorian presidents Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo did not respond to the invitation of their successor, Alassane Ouattara.
With our special correspondent in Yamoussoukro, Peter Pinto
The parade took place in the presence of distinguished guests such as the current president of ECOWAS, Umaro Sissoko Embaló and Liberian President George Weah, guest of honor for this national holiday. But it was two absentees who stood out, in this case the former presidents of the Republic, Laurent Gbagbo and Henri Konan Bédié. The latter had however been officially invited.
Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo had been received on July 14 by Alassane Ouattara as part of the national reconciliation process and the political dialogue initiated a year and a half ago, but they were therefore conspicuous by their absence.
The PDCI published a concise statement shortly after the ceremony, explaining that Henri Konan Bédié could not take part in the celebrations ” for personal reasons but that he had appointed a delegation of five people to represent him.
A pardon and not an amnesty
No explanation, however, on the side of the PPA-CI, the party of Laurent Gbagbo. However, Saturday evening, in his traditional address to the Nation, Alassane Ouattara announced the pardon of Laurent Gbagbosentenced in 2018, by the Ivorian justice, to 20 years in prison for the so-called “BCEAO heist” case.
It is a pardon and not an amnesty as the supporters of Laurent Gbagbo had hoped. It makes a legal difference. Amnesty erases condemnation, which is not the case with grace. One can thus wonder if legally Laurent Gbagbo could stand for an election like the presidential one of 2025.
On Saturday evening, Alassane Ouattara also announced the conditional release of two former officials of the Gbagbo regime’s security apparatus: Vice-Admiral Vagba Faussignaux, sentenced to twenty years in prison in 2015, and the commander of the gendarmerie, Jean Noël Abéhi , who was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2018 for “ conspiracy against state authority “.
The release of so-called prisoners policies that is to say, arrested or sentenced for their role in the 2010-2011 crisis is a recurring demand from the opposition.
Were these Saturday releases deemed insufficient by former Presidents Gbagbo and Bédié? In any case, the expected symbol of reconciliation, the image of the three pillars of Ivorian politics Ouattara-Bédié-Gbagbo, side by side on the national holiday, did not materialize on August 7.
The case of Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali mentioned
During the parade, the case of the 49 Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali since July 10 was also mentioned by the announcer. On several occasions, Colonel Etienne Otchélio, spokesman for the Ivorian army, who commented on this parade for the guests of the official gallery, mentioned the case of these soldiers.
” This parade will also be in their honor “, he said in particular in the preamble to the parade.
On Saturday, during his speech, Alassane Ouattara had also given his support to these Ivorian soldiers ” unjustly detained “, recalling that 850 Ivorian soldiers engaged in Mali risked their lives daily to restore peace, security and stability in this brotherly country.