Côte d’Ivoire: Guillaume Soro’s supporters urge Ouattara to let ex-PM to return unconditionally

Sié Coulibaly, lawmaker and former leader of Pro-Soro initiative “Initiative Libérale de Côte d’Ivoire (ILCI)”, has called on Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara to allow the former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro to return to his home country like former President Laurent Gbagbo and former minister Ble Goude, to seal national reconciliation.

“The centerpiece for national reconciliation is missing. President Guillaume Soro must return to play his role in the process of reconciliation and construction of Côte d’Ivoire. This is why we have launched a “generational” appeal which is first of all forgiveness and reconciliation, which we have been reiterating since October 17, 2022,” the lawmaker said.

“President Alassane Ouattara must speak to President Guillaume Soro without intermediaries. It must be a word that liberates Ivorians. Gbagbo has returned, but we still see that peace is not total. Brother Blé Goudé will return, peace will not be total. But for peace to be total, Guillaume Soro, who was formerly in Ouattara’s camp, must return so that we can smoke the peace pipe. This is not complicated, but we should not be given conditions and this is what we do not accept,” he added.

The call comes as Ble Goude is expected to return from exile on Nov. 26 following his acquittal by the International Criminal Court in 2021. He could not return home because he did not have a passport.

Gbagbo returned in June 2021 following his acquittal by the court. A court in Cote d’Ivoire in June last year handed a life imprisonment to Soro on charges of attempt to remove President Ouattara in a coup d’état in 2019. Ivorian authorities issued an international arrest warrant against him.