Crowds await ex-Ivory Coast president Gbagbo’s return – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – (AP) – Crowds of cheering supporters walked to the airport Thursday afternoon waiting for ex-President Laurent Gbagbo to return nearly a decade after he was extradited abroad to face international war crimes charges.

Gbagbo’s scheduled arrival on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. local time (1630 GMT) comes two months after the International Criminal Court in The Hague upheld its acquittal of all charges related to post-election violence, in the 2010-2011 more than 3,000 People perished.

While the Ivorian government, under long-time rival President Alassane Ouattara, has allowed Gbagbo to return, there are already concerns about the role the divisive former leader might play in politics.

Gbagbo’s opponents claim that he should be detained in Ivory Coast without a statesmanlike welcome. Some demonstrated outside Gbagbo’s residence in Abidjan’s Cocody neighborhood on Wednesday.

Thursday, however, was mainly a day of celebration for Gbagbo’s supporters, who have long claimed that his charges were unfair and politically motivated. The ex-president received nearly 46% of the vote in 2010 and has a strong following.

“After his arrival, we want peace and reconciliation, we want to live together because we were born together and therefore we are obliged to live together,” said Chief Tanouh, a traditional leader from the east of the country.

Crowds trying to greet Gbagbo arrived at Felix Houphouet Boigny Airport around 6 a.m., where police used tear gas canisters to deter the crowds from entering the reception area, witnesses said.

The ex-president arrived at Brussels Airport a few hours later, where his lawyer Habiba Toure said he had checked in for the commercial flight to Abidjan. A small group of Gbagbo supporters had gathered at the airport to see him off.

“We couldn’t miss this opportunity,” said supporter Serge Kassy to AP. “It was important to be here to say goodbye, that we are with him and will always be with him.”

Gbagbo’s refusal to accept defeat in the 2010 presidential election sparked months of violence that brought Ivory Coast to the brink of civil war. He has spent much of the last decade since his arrest in the Netherlands awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.

In 2019, the judge said prosecutors failed to bring their case before defense attorneys presented their side. The former president was released from custody but lived in Belgium until the ICC prosecutors appeal process was completed.

Long-time rival Alassane Ouattara was eventually named the 2010 vote winner and has been in power ever since. After Gbagbo’s acquittal was upheld, Ouattara said the former president and his family’s travel expenses would be covered by the state.

However, it seemed that Ouattara would be there to welcome Gbagbo back. Government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly said this is not the protocol for other former heads of state.

“For us it is a normal arrival of a citizen returning to his country,” he said.

It remains unclear what will become of other pending criminal proceedings against the ex-president.

Gbagbo and three of his former ministers were sentenced to 20 years in prison for breaking into the Abidjan branch of the Central Bank of West African States for cash in January 2011.

It is unlikely that the Ivorian authorities would arrest the ex-president, says Ousmane Zina, a political scientist at Bouake University. However, Ouattara is likely to put conditions on Gbagbo’s return to avoid flare-up past tensions, he added.

“Before granting a pardon or amnesty, he will want a guarantee of peace in the country,” said Zina.

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Associated press journalists Bishr El Touni, Mark Carlson and Lorne Cook in Brussels and Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed.

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