President Alassane Ouattara will meet his predecessors Laurent Gbagbo and Henri Conan Bédié on 14 July, an Ivorian government spokesman said.
“The head of state speaks regularly with the two former presidents by phone but it was also important that this meeting took place.”
Amadou Coulibaly, spokesman for the Ivorian government.
This meeting was decided and planned during the political exchanges between the government and the opposition. It was earlier this year that this consultation between the country’s various political forces was completed.
In 2010, the fratricidal duel between the two political leaders Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara for the presidential elections led to a post-electoral crisis in which more than 3,000 people died. The arrest of Laurent Gbagbo will mark the end of this period.
In 2020, new violence occurred at the time of the presidential elections, with 85 people killed and 500 injured. The election will result in the re-election of Alassane Ouattara, a third term criticised as unconstitutional by the opposition.
Following his acquittal by the International Criminal Court, Laurent Gbagbo returned to Abidjan in June 2021. He met Alassane Ouattara before launching the African People’s Party – Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), his new opposition formation.
Henri Konan Bédié, former president of Côte d’Ivoire from 1993 to 1999, and leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI) had met the current president at the end of 2020.
The next municipal and regional elections in Côte d’Ivoire will take place in 2023. The presidential elections are due to take place in 2025.
