Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo yesterday sparked new political speculations by proposing the formation of a new political party.
This disclosure was made by his deeply divided Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that at a crucial meeting of party leaders, Gbagbo lashed out at his former prime minister, Pascal Affi N’Guessan, the FPI’s president, and also proposed ‘creating a new instrument of struggle in line with our ideology and ambitions’, the FPI said.
A congress to set it up could take place in October, it explained.
In a statement sighted by Africa Daily News, New York, Affi N’Guessan slammed the move as being ‘dictated essentially by a thirst for power and the desire for revenge’.
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Gbagbo, 76, was in power as Ivory coast President for a turbulent decade from 2000.
In 2010, he refused to concede election defeat to the current president, Alassane Ouattara, sparking a months-long civil conflict that claimed some 3,000 lives.
He returned to national politics in June after being dramatically acquitted at the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity arising from the bloodshed.
During his years in prison in The Hague, a deep rift developed in the FPI, which Gbagbo founded in 1982.
One side is headed by 68-year-old Affi N’Guessan, who leads a so-called ‘legal’ faction — a term that stems from the judicial authorities’ acknowledgement of his position as party president in 2015.
The other side is the so-called “GOR” faction — from the French words meaning ‘Gbagbo Or Nothing’ — backed by grassroots members who fervently support the former president.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
