Police have confirmed that at least three people died during protests in Ivory Coast as small groups burned makeshift road blocks in protests against President Alassane Ouattara’s decision to stand for a third term.
The West African nation has seen a number of scattered protests since Ouattara announced last week he would run for a third term in the October elections, with the opposition accusing him of violating term limits.
The president chose his country’s celebrations commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of independence to announce his presidential bid. “I will be running in the presidential election on 31 October 2020,” the Ivorian head of state announced during his traditional address to the nation.
Ouattara explained his decision to reverse his original plan of refraining from running for a third term after the death of his “hand-picked successor.”
“On 5 March, I informed the citizens of Côte d’Ivoire of my desire to abstain from pursuing another presidential bid in order to pass on the torch to a new generation. I had started to organize my departure, plan my post-presidential life and resume the work of my foundation,” he said.
He went on to say the sudden death on 8 July of Amadou Gon Coulibaly, his hand-picked successor and presidential candidate, changed everything going as far as to describe his actions as “a sacrifice”.
“Given these exceptional circumstances, I have decided to respond favourably to the call of my fellow citizens. This decision, which I have carefully considered, is a duty which I accept in order to do what is best for the nation,” he added.
Protesters in the southeastern town of Bonoua set fire to a police station after a young man died during a protest there on Thursday, police spokesman Bleu Charlemagne said in a statement on the state TV channel, RTI. He however did not explain how the others died.
The Bonoua police commissioner is shown in a video circulating on social media covered in blood, as a crowd rescued him from the burning police headquarters.
“Police arrested 58 people across the country”, Charlemagne said.
The executive director of Ouattara’s party, Adama Bictogo, defended Ouattara’s decision to run again, saying, “For us the debate is closed.”
Ouattara’s opponents have also accused the police of using excess force to break up demonstrations this week.
Ivory Coast law limits presidential terms to two, but Ouattara says a new constitution adopted in 2016 acted as a reset button, allowing him to run again. The October election is seen as a test of stability for a country still recovering from a brief civil war in 2010 and 2011.
One of Ouattara’s main challengers, former President Henri Konan Bedie, said on Wednesday that two protesters had been killed and others severely wounded during demonstrations held that day in his electoral stronghold Daoukro and elsewhere.
In the commercial capital, Abidjan, police in riot gear cleared makeshift road blocks that small groups of protesters had built and set alight. Several people were arrested, an opposition spokesman said.
