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Ecowas “sends its warm congratulations to the president-elect” and “its sincere wishes for success,” said a statement from the 15-member bloc.
FILE: Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara (second right) and his wife Dominique Ouattara (left) arrive to vote at a polling station in Abidjan on October 31, 2020, during the Ivory Coast presidential elections. Image: AFP.
ABIDJAN – Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara won the support of the West African bloc Ecowas on Tuesday for his re-election to a third term after an Oct. 31 vote marked by clashes and an opposition boycott.
Ouattara secured the elections by more than 94%, but Côte d’Ivoire is mired in a confrontation after opposition leaders rejected the vote, accusing him of violating the presidential two-term limits.
The tensions have sparked trauma from the disputed 2010 elections that sparked a brief civil war in the West African country, claiming around 3,000 lives.
Ecowas “sends its warm congratulations to the president-elect” and “its sincere wishes for success,” said a statement from the 15-member bloc, urging Ouattara to unite Ivorians after election riots killed some 50 people since August.
The country’s high court upheld Ouattara’s victory on Monday, but new clashes between rival ethnic communities over the elections killed at least 10 people.
More than 8,000 Ivorians have also fled to neighboring countries for fear of election-related violence, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Ouattara has urged his main rival Henri Konan Bedie to abandon the protests and hold talks to defuse the crisis.
“I will be the president of all Ivorians,” he said on a national broadcast Monday night.
There has been no official response from the main opposition party, the PDCI, nor from its boss Bedie, an 86-year-old former president.
Bedie’s home in Abidjan is still blocked by security forces. Two other opposition leaders have been arrested on suspicion of insurrection after rejecting the ballot and announcing a rival government.
But a representative of the opposition maintained a hard line.
“We do not recognize the election. We all know that he (Ouattara) violated the constitution,” said N’Goran Djiedri, leader of one of the PDCI wings.
“Yes, to dialogue, but the rule of law must be respected.”
Face-to-face talks
Ecowas urged “all Ivorians to put peace and social cohesion above all else and seek to resolve their differences through dialogue and legal channels.”
The UN, the EU and the African Union have urged talks to halt the worsening tensions in the Ivory Coast, West Africa’s largest French-speaking economy and a business hub.
Western diplomats and government sources say talks are ongoing with both sides, although no solid progress has been made so far.
“Bedie and Ouattara could see and be seen each other, to reduce tensions one level,” said a Western diplomat.
“The real discussion must happen between these two.”
The bitter rivalry between Ouattara and Bedie has marked Ivorian politics for decades alongside ethnic and regional loyalties.
In power since 2010, Ouattara had said that at the end of his second term he would make way for the next generation, raising hopes of ending long-standing disputes.
But the sudden death of his chosen successor in July caused a change of mind.
His candidacy angered opposition leaders, fueling tensions over a possible post-election crisis similar to that of 2010-11 when then-President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept Ouattara’s defeat.
The country was already divided in two after a civil war: the north in the hands of the rebels and the south by the forces of Gbagbo.
Ouattara won a long-delayed 2010 election, but Gbagbo refused to resign. French troops eventually intervened and those loyal to Ouattara were able to drive out Gbagbo.
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