A close associate of former Ivorian Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, accused of plotting and living in exile for several years, has been arrested in Abidjan.
“The commander Abdoulaye Fofana, the former aide-de-camp of Guillaume Soro, was arrested and is being held in the premises of the gendarmerie of Agban in Abidjan”, Moussa Touré, former head of communication of Guillaume Soro, told reporters.
However, he said that Major Fofana “was no longer in contact with the camp of the former prime minister since April, 2021”.
In 2021, the Ivorian judiciary issued an arrest warrant for “disturbance of public order and illegal wearing of fatigues” against Commander Fofana, after numerous statements by him on social networks calling for a mutiny of soldiers in Côte d’Ivoire.
Post-election crisis
Guillaume Soro, who lives in exile, was sentenced in mid-July 2021 in absentia to life imprisonment for “undermining state security”, “conspiracy” and “attempted undermining of state authority”.
Guillaume Soro was 49 years when a court in Ivory Coast sentenced him on charges of plotting a coup against President Alassane Ouattara in late 2019.
His lawyers condemned the charges as politically motivated and said there was no evidence to show he was guilty. Two other defendants, Soro’s close associates Souleymane Kamagate and Affoussy Bamba, received 20-year sentences. Two of Soro’s brothers and his former aide, Alain Lobognon, also got 17-month jail terms for “disturbing public order”.
The court also ordered the confiscation of the assets of Soro and those of his 19 co-defendants and the dissolution of his Generations and Solidary Movement for “subversive acts”. It also ordered them to pay one billion CFA francs ($179m) to the Ivorian state.
The case raised tensions in the country that was still recovering from a brief civil war a decade ago, during which Soro led the rebels that brought Ouattara to power after a disputed election that saw then-President Laurent Gbagbo refusing to accept defeat in the presidential election of late 2010.
Presidential ambitions of Guillaume Soro
Guillaume Soro became the first head of government of Alassane Ouattara, then was appointed in 2012 as President of the National Assembly, a position he held until 2019.
However, the two men have gradually fallen out, until the break was consummated in early 2019. According to observers, this was due to the presidential ambitions of Guillaume Soro.
Soro was charged with fomenting a “civilian and military insurrection” as he was planning a return to the country in December 2019 to run for president – a bid that was quashed by the Constitutional Court.
Soro was one of some 40 candidates barred from running in the October 2020 election that saw Ouattara win a controversial third term with 94 percent of the votes.
The opposition boycotted the vote, saying Ouattara’s bid for a third term broke a legal two-term limit and undermined the country’s democratic process. The President’s camp said constitutional amendments introduced in 2016 reset the two-term limits to zero, allowing Ouattara to run again.
Dozens of people were killed in an unrest surrounding the bitterly contested polls. Since then, Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, has seen relative calm, with dialogue between the government and opposition parties and various opposition figures released from prison.
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