Latest news with #AlassaneOuattara
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why did rumours of a coup sweep Ivory Coast this week?
Fake stories of a coup d'etat in the West African nation of Ivory Coast surfaced this week amid mounting tensions over the upcoming October general elections. Several accounts on social media sites, including Facebook and X, posted videos of huge crowds on streets with burning buildings, which they claimed were from the country's commercial capital, Abidjan. However, no violence was reported by security forces or any other government authorities in the city this week. Abidjan residents also denied the claims on social media. On Thursday, the country's National Agency for Information Systems Security of Ivory Coast (ANSSI) denied the rumours. In a statement published on local media sites, the agency said: 'Publications currently circulating on the X network claim that a coup d'etat has taken place in Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast] … This claim is completely unfounded. It is the result of a deliberate and coordinated disinformation campaign.' The rumours come just weeks after popular opposition politician Tidjane Thiam was barred from running for office after his eligibility was challenged in court over a technicality relating to his citizenship status. Thiam is appealing the ruling and claims the ban is political. Ivory Coast, Africa's cocoa powerhouse, has a long history of election violence, with one episode a decade ago spiralling into armed conflict that resulted in thousands of deaths. Fears that President Alassane Ouattara might run for a fourth term have added to the tensions this time. Although the country has a two-term limit for presidents, a constitutional amendment in 2016 reset the clock on his terms, the president's supporters argue, allowing him to run for a third five-year term in 2020. That same argument could also see him on the ballot papers this October, despite what experts say is widespread disillusionment with the political establishment in the country. Here's what we know about the current political situation in the country: Videos showing hundreds of people demonstrating in the streets and setting fires to shops and malls started appearing on social media sites on Wednesday this week. French is the official language in Ivory Coast, but most of the posts and blogs with images purporting to be from were from Abidjan and claiming that a coup d'etat was in progress were written in English. Some posts also claimed that the country's army chief of staff, Lassina Doumbia, had been assassinated and that President Ouattara was missing. These claims were untrue and have been denied by the office of the president. Credible media outlets, including Ivorian state media and private news media, did not report the alleged violence. It is unclear how the rumours that President Ouattara was missing emerged. On Thursday, he chaired a routine cabinet meeting in the capital. He also attended a ceremony commemorating the revered former president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, alongside Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe. The upcoming general elections on October 25 are at the root of current political tensions in the country. Elections have in the past been violent: During the October 2010 general election, former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to hand over power to Ouattara, who was proclaimed the winner by the electoral commission. Tense political negotiations failed, and the situation eventually spiralled into armed civil war, with Ouattara's forces, backed by French troops, besieging Gbagbo's national army. France is the former colonial power in Ivory Coast, and Ouattara has close ties to Paris. Some 3,000 people were killed in the violence. Gbagbo's capture on April 11, 2011, marked the end of the conflict. He was later tried and acquitted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in 2019. That painful history has spurred fears that this year's polls could also turn violent, as several opposition candidates, including Gbagbo, have been barred from running, mainly due to past convictions. In 2018, the former president was sentenced in absentia to a 20-year jail term over the looting of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during the country's post-election crisis. Last December, the governing Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party nominated Ouattara for a fourth term as president. So far, Ouattara has refused to say whether he intends to run, triggering concerns among Ivorians, many of whom feel the president has outstayed his welcome. Analysts see the party's nomination as setting the stage for his eventual candidature, however. Analysts also say there is widespread sympathy for the young military leaders who seized power in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, and who have maintained a hostile stance towards France, unlike Ouattara. He has been praised for overseeing rapid economic stability in the last decade and a half, which has made the country the regional economic hub. Ouattara is also credited with bringing some level of political peace to the country. In 2023, he welcomed back Gbagbo, who had been living in Brussels since his 2021 ICC acquittal. Since then, election campaigns have not been as inflamed as they were in the 2000s when Gbagbo played on ethnic sentiments to incite opposition to Ouattara, whose father was originally from Burkina Faso. However, Ouattara's critics accuse him of fighting to hold onto power unconstitutionally. Some also accuse him of coercing state institutions into railroading his political opponents, including in the latest case involving Thiam. His closeness with France, which is increasingly viewed as arrogant and neo-colonialistic, particularly by younger people across Francophone West Africa, has not won the president any favour from the country's significant under-35 population. Thiam, 62, is a prominent politician and businessman in Ivorian political circles. He is a nephew of the revered Houphouet-Boigny and was the first Ivorian to pass the entrance exam to France's prestigious Polytechnique engineering school. He returned from France to serve as a minister of planning and development from 1998 until 1999, when a coup d'etat collapsed the civilian government, and the army took control of the country. Thiam declined a cabinet position offered by the military government and left the country. He went on to take high-profile positions, first as the chief executive of the UK insurance group, Prudential, and then as head of global investment bank Credit Suisse. A corporate espionage scandal at the bank led to his resignation in 2020 after a colleague accused Thiam of spying on him. Thiam was cleared of any involvement. After returning to Ivory Coast in 2022, Thiam re-entered politics and rejoined the Democratic Party (PDCI), the former governing party which held power from independence in 1960 until the 1999 coup d'etat, and which is now the major opposition party. In December 2023, the party's delegates overwhelmingly voted for Thiam to be the next leader following the death of former head and ex-President Henri Konan Bedie. At the time, PDCI officials said Thiam represented a breath of fresh air for the country's politics, and many young people appeared ready to back him as the next president. But his ambitions came to a halt on April 22 when a judge ordered his name be struck off the list of contenders because Thiam had taken French nationality in 1987 and automatically lost Ivorian citizenship according to the country's laws. Although the politician renounced his French nationality in February this year, the court ruled he had not done so before registering himself on the electoral roll in 2022, and was thus ineligible to be the party leader, a presidential candidate, or even a voter. Thiam and his lawyers argued that the law is inconsistent. Ivorian footballers on the country's national team, Thiam pointed out in one interview with reporters, are mostly also French nationals, but face no restrictions on holding Ivorian nationality. 'The bottom line is, I was born Ivorian,' Thiam told the BBC in an interview, accusing the government of trying to block what he said is his party's likely success in this year's elections. It is unclear if Thiam can legally make his way back onto the candidate list, but he is trying. In May, he resigned as PDCI president and was almost immediately re-elected with 99 percent of the vote. He has yet to reveal if he will attempt to re-register as a candidate, but has promised to keep up the fight. Thiam has pledged to attract industrial investment to the country as he once did as minister, and to remove the country from the France-backed CFA currency economy that comprises West and Central African countries formerly colonised by France, and sees their currencies pegged to the euro. Meanwhile, other strong candidates include Pascal Affi N'Guessan, 67, a former prime minister and close ally of Gbagbo, who will represent Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI). Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady who is now divorced from Gbagbo, will also run, as the nominee for the Movement of the Capable Generations. She was sentenced to a 20-year term in 2015 on charges of undermining state security, but benefitted from an amnesty law to foster national reconciliation later in 2018.
Al Jazeera
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Why did rumours of a coup sweep Ivory Coast this week?
Fake stories of a coup d'etat in the West African nation of Ivory Coast surfaced this week amid mounting tensions over the upcoming October general elections. Several accounts on social media sites, including Facebook and X, posted videos of huge crowds on streets with burning buildings, which they claimed were from the country's commercial capital, Abidjan. However, no violence was reported by security forces or any other government authorities in the city this week. Abidjan residents also denied the claims on social media. On Thursday, the country's National Agency for Information Systems Security of Ivory Coast (ANSSI) denied the rumours. In a statement published on local media sites, the agency said: 'Publications currently circulating on the X network claim that a coup d'etat has taken place in Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast] … This claim is completely unfounded. It is the result of a deliberate and coordinated disinformation campaign.' The rumours come just weeks after popular opposition politician Tidjane Thiam was barred from running for office after his eligibility was challenged in court over a technicality relating to his citizenship status. Thiam is appealing the ruling and claims the ban is political. Ivory Coast, Africa's cocoa powerhouse, has a long history of election violence, with one episode a decade ago spiralling into armed conflict that resulted in thousands of deaths. Fears that President Alassane Ouattara might run for a fourth term have added to the tensions this time. Although the country has a two-term limit for presidents, a constitutional amendment in 2016 reset the clock on his terms, the president's supporters argue, allowing him to run for a third five-year term in 2020. That same argument could also see him on the ballot papers this October, despite what experts say is widespread disillusionment with the political establishment in the country. Here's what we know about the current political situation in the country: Videos showing hundreds of people demonstrating in the streets and setting fires to shops and malls started appearing on social media sites on Wednesday this week. French is the official language in Ivory Coast, but most of the posts and blogs with images purporting to be from were from Abidjan and claiming that a coup d'etat was in progress were written in English. Some posts also claimed that the country's army chief of staff, Lassina Doumbia, had been assassinated and that President Ouattara was missing. These claims were untrue and have been denied by the office of the president. Credible media outlets, including Ivorian state media and private news media, did not report the alleged violence. It is unclear how the rumours that President Ouattara was missing emerged. On Thursday, he chaired a routine cabinet meeting in the capital. He also attended a ceremony commemorating the revered former president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, alongside Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe. The upcoming general elections on October 25 are at the root of current political tensions in the country. Elections have in the past been violent: During the October 2010 general election, former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to hand over power to Ouattara, who was proclaimed the winner by the electoral commission. Tense political negotiations failed, and the situation eventually spiralled into armed civil war, with Ouattara's forces, backed by French troops, besieging Gbagbo's national army. France is the former colonial power in Ivory Coast, and Ouattara has close ties to Paris. Some 3,000 people were killed in the violence. Gbagbo's capture on April 11, 2011, marked the end of the conflict. He was later tried and acquitted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in 2019. That painful history has spurred fears that this year's polls could also turn violent, as several opposition candidates, including Gbagbo, have been barred from running, mainly due to past convictions. In 2018, the former president was sentenced in absentia to a 20-year jail term over the looting of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during the country's post-election crisis. Last December, the governing Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party nominated Ouattara for a fourth term as president. So far, Ouattara has refused to say whether he intends to run, triggering concerns among Ivorians, many of whom feel the president has outstayed his welcome. Analysts see the party's nomination as setting the stage for his eventual candidature, however. Analysts also say there is widespread sympathy for the young military leaders who seized power in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, and who have maintained a hostile stance towards France, unlike Ouattara. He has been praised for overseeing rapid economic stability in the last decade and a half, which has made the country the regional economic hub. Ouattara is also credited with bringing some level of political peace to the country. In 2023, he welcomed back Gbagbo, who had been living in Brussels since his 2021 ICC acquittal. Since then, election campaigns have not been as inflamed as they were in the 2000s when Gbagbo played on ethnic sentiments to incite opposition to Ouattara, whose father was originally from Burkina Faso. However, Ouattara's critics accuse him of fighting to hold onto power unconstitutionally. Some also accuse him of coercing state institutions into railroading his political opponents, including in the latest case involving Thiam. His closeness with France, which is increasingly viewed as arrogant and neo-colonialistic, particularly by younger people across Francophone West Africa, has not won the president any favour from the country's significant under-35 population. Thiam, 62, is a prominent politician and businessman in Ivorian political circles. He is a nephew of the revered Houphouet-Boigny and was the first Ivorian to pass the entrance exam to France's prestigious Polytechnique engineering school. He returned from France to serve as a minister of planning and development from 1998 until 1999, when a coup d'etat collapsed the civilian government, and the army took control of the country. Thiam declined a cabinet position offered by the military government and left the country. He went on to take high-profile positions, first as the chief executive of the UK insurance group, Prudential, and then as head of global investment bank Credit Suisse. A corporate espionage scandal at the bank led to his resignation in 2020 after a colleague accused Thiam of spying on him. Thiam was cleared of any involvement. After returning to Ivory Coast in 2022, Thiam re-entered politics and rejoined the Democratic Party (PDCI), the former governing party which held power from independence in 1960 until the 1999 coup d'etat, and which is now the major opposition party. In December 2023, the party's delegates overwhelmingly voted for Thiam to be the next leader following the death of former head and ex-President Henri Konan Bedie. At the time, PDCI officials said Thiam represented a breath of fresh air for the country's politics, and many young people appeared ready to back him as the next president. But his ambitions came to a halt on April 22 when a judge ordered his name be struck off the list of contenders because Thiam had taken French nationality in 1987 and automatically lost Ivorian citizenship according to the country's laws. Although the politician renounced his French nationality in February this year, the court ruled he had not done so before registering himself on the electoral roll in 2022, and was thus ineligible to be the party leader, a presidential candidate, or even a voter. Thiam and his lawyers argued that the law is inconsistent. Ivorian footballers on the country's national team, Thiam pointed out in one interview with reporters, are mostly also French nationals, but face no restrictions on holding Ivorian nationality. 'The bottom line is, I was born Ivorian,' Thiam told the BBC in an interview, accusing the government of trying to block what he said is his party's likely success in this year's elections. It is unclear if Thiam can legally make his way back onto the candidate list, but he is trying. In May, he resigned as PDCI president and was almost immediately re-elected with 99 percent of the vote. He has yet to reveal if he will attempt to re-register as a candidate, but has promised to keep up the fight. Thiam has pledged to attract industrial investment to the country as he once did as minister, and to remove the country from the France-backed CFA currency economy that comprises West and Central African countries formerly colonised by France, and sees their currencies pegged to the euro. Meanwhile, other strong candidates include Pascal Affi N'Guessan, 67, a former prime minister and close ally of Gbagbo, who will represent Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI). Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady who is now divorced from Gbagbo, will also run, as the nominee for the Movement of the Capable Generations. She was sentenced to a 20-year term in 2015 on charges of undermining state security, but benefitted from an amnesty law to foster national reconciliation later in 2018.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ivory Coast opposition leader resigns but vows to still fight for victory
Ivory Coast's main opposition leader has said he is resigning as party leader but would still lead the fight to win the election, after having been barred from standing in an October presidential vote. 'In the interest of the party, I've decided to place my mandate as president of the party in your hands, the activists,' Thiam said in a speech published on social media on Monday. 'This decision does not change the commitment I made in December 2023 to personally lead our party to victory in October 2025.' President Alassane Ouattara, 83, who has been in power since 2011, has yet to say whether he plans to run again but has said he is eager to 'continue serving my country'. Tidjane Thiam's campaign for the presidency of the West African country has been mired in tussles over his nationality, as presidential candidates are not allowed to hold dual citizenship. Thiam was born in the Ivory Coast and renounced his French passport in March to enable his run for the top job. However, a court in Abidjan struck him off the electoral list last month, saying the 62-year-old politician had lost Ivorian nationality when he acquired French citizenship in 1987. Thiam also faces a legal case against his election as head of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast–African Democratic Rally (PDCI) after a party member also contested his Ivorian nationality at the time he was chosen. PDCI deputy president Ernest N'Koumo Mobio assumed the party's interim leadership following Thiam's announcement. He appealed for 'cohesion, serenity and discipline' and called a party meeting early Monday due to 'the urgency linked to the political situation'. Three other opposition figures have also been excluded from the presidential race, including former President Laurent Gbagbo due to court convictions. Thiam alleged irregularities on Monday. 'While we had the right to hope for inclusive, transparent and peaceful elections, it is clear that the unjustified removal of the PDCI candidate is part of the logic of eliminating the leaders of the main opposition parties to ensure tailor-made elections and a certain victory,' he said. The authorities regularly reject claims of any political intervention in the electoral process, saying decisions are taken by an independent judiciary.
Al Jazeera
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Ivory Coast opposition leader resigns but vows to still fight for victory
Ivory Coast's main opposition leader has said he is resigning as party leader but would still lead the fight to win the election, after having been barred from standing in an October presidential vote. 'In the interest of the party, I've decided to place my mandate as president of the party in your hands, the activists,' Thiam said in a speech published on social media on Monday. 'This decision does not change the commitment I made in December 2023 to personally lead our party to victory in October 2025.' President Alassane Ouattara, 83, who has been in power since 2011, has yet to say whether he plans to run again but has said he is eager to 'continue serving my country'. Tidjane Thiam's campaign for the presidency of the West African country has been mired in tussles over his nationality, as presidential candidates are not allowed to hold dual citizenship. Thiam was born in the Ivory Coast and renounced his French passport in March to enable his run for the top job. However, a court in Abidjan struck him off the electoral list last month, saying the 62-year-old politician had lost Ivorian nationality when he acquired French citizenship in 1987. Thiam also faces a legal case against his election as head of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast–African Democratic Rally (PDCI) after a party member also contested his Ivorian nationality at the time he was chosen. PDCI deputy president Ernest N'Koumo Mobio assumed the party's interim leadership following Thiam's announcement. He appealed for 'cohesion, serenity and discipline' and called a party meeting early Monday due to 'the urgency linked to the political situation'. Three other opposition figures have also been excluded from the presidential race, including former President Laurent Gbagbo due to court convictions. Thiam alleged irregularities on Monday. 'While we had the right to hope for inclusive, transparent and peaceful elections, it is clear that the unjustified removal of the PDCI candidate is part of the logic of eliminating the leaders of the main opposition parties to ensure tailor-made elections and a certain victory,' he said. The authorities regularly reject claims of any political intervention in the electoral process, saying decisions are taken by an independent judiciary.
Daily News Egypt
12-05-2025
- Business
- Daily News Egypt
Africa CEO Forum opens in Abidjan focusing on public-private ‘new deal'
ABIDJAN – The 2025 Africa CEO Forum (ACF) opened in Abidjan on Monday, focusing on forging a new 'public-private deal' to reshape the continent's prospects, bringing together over 2,000 leaders from more than 90 countries. Hosted by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, the 12th edition, co-organised by Jeune Afrique Media Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), aims to find solutions as Africa navigates external shocks like declining aid and high debt costs, alongside opportunities for South-South cooperation. Ouattara's presence is closely watched less than six months before Côte d'Ivoire's presidential election. In his opening address, President Ouattara declared: 'The world is undergoing profound upheavals and major shifts in the geopolitical, economic, and financial spheres. Despite this uncertain context, Côte d'Ivoire is showing strong, sustained growth thanks to a sound macro‑economic framework underpinned by significant private‑sector investment. We must now work to strengthen intra‑African trade by continuing our efforts to process our raw materials and by accelerating the implementation of the AfCFTA. I hope that this edition of the Africa CEO Forum will be a moment of truth and commitment, enabling us to design concrete and ambitious solutions together.' The two-day forum, held at the Sofitel Abidjan Hôtel Ivoire, gathers public and private decision-makers with the objective of building a new pact to fast-track the continent's economic transformation. It highlights economic governance as essential for attracting investment and building trust. Discussions are structured around three key priorities: strengthening economic governance to improve public policy efficiency and enable a more strategic government approach; optimising public policy by aligning regulations with the needs of African businesses; and accelerating the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to build a continental market and foster African champions. High-level participation includes Heads of State Alassane Ouattara (Côte d'Ivoire), Bassirou Diomaye Faye (Senegal), Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), Mohamed Ould Ghazouani (Mauritania), and Paul Kagame (Rwanda). Also attending are Prime Ministers Robert Beugré Mambé (Côte d'Ivoire), Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa (Tanzania), Amadou Oury Bah (Guinea), and Joseph Dion Ngute (Cameroon). More than 900 CEOs are among the participants. Leading figures from the private and financial sectors include Christel Heydemann (Orange), Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede (Access Holdings), Samaila Zubairu (AFC), Soren Toft (MSC), Françoise Lombard (Proparco), Aïda Diarra (Visa), Serge Ekué (BOAD), Thierry Hebraud (MCB), Philippe Labonne (AGL), Christian Stammkoetter (Danone), Fatoumata Sanogo (Petroci), and Afrobeats superstar Davido. Amir Ben Yahmed, CEO of Jeune Afrique Media Group, said: 'After two decades of growth, Africa is once again facing challenges we thought were behind us, especially the ballooning debt crisis… we believe the core issue lies in the quality of public policy and economic governance… Africa must develop its capacity to engage with the private sector and empower it to drive growth.' Makhtar Diop, Managing Director at IFC, stated: 'Africa's potential is immense… Yet it remains largely untapped… To realize this potential, we must mobilize private capital towards a competitive and productive Africa… we urgently need a new deal between companies and public decision-makers'. A key event will be the public debate between candidates for the presidency of the African Development Bank (AfDB), moderated by Nicholas Norbrook, editor-in-chief of The Africa Report. Some leaders, including South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa, Mauritania's Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, and Senegal's Bassirou Diomaye Faye, are attending partly to support candidates in this election, scheduled for late May. Rwanda's Paul Kagame is seen as cultivating support amid ongoing tensions between his country and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
