Violence was Gbagbo’s political weapon

Soro
By Numh Rogers in Yaounde
Guillaume Soro has described Laurent Gbagbo as an anti democrat who paid only lip service to the panafrican course. Speaking to the Cameroonian press at the Yaounde Hilton hours before his departure for the Ivory Coast last Saturday, the former member of Gbagbo’s government said that Gbagbo’s accession to power in 2000 was not through a fair and transparent election.
        ‘Veritable rivals were eliminated leaving Gbagbo to challenge coup leader Robert Guei alone. Gbagbo himself called the elections a calamity. Only the socialist regime in France declared them free and fair.’
    Soro had dropped his guard because in his own words, he had suffered too much persecution in his political life in the Ivory Coast.
    Making a gun gesture with his left hand, he continued the tirade.

“Do you feel that you know Gbagbo better than I who was by his side for such a long time? Gbagbo institutionalized the ‘Ivoirete’ concept which is the root cause of the problems of Cote d’Ivoire today. The Front Populaire Ivoirien (Gbagbo’s party) has been violent since its creation,” Soro said, in answer to a question from a journalist.
Soro went on to discredit Gbagbo as a Pan-African leader.
    ‘Gbagbo sought military help from France who had earlier declined to deploy its troops to the Ivory Coast when the West African country was in dire need. We seized French military equipment from Gbagbo’s fighters during the conflict. Our country was the big loser in agreements which Gbagbo signed with the French. President Quattara has reviewed some of these agreements.
    Guillaume Soro was invited to Cameroon by the speaker of the National Assembly Cavaye Yegue Djibril. He seized the opportunity to ask for support for the reconciliation and reconstruction process in his country. During his stay, he met with politicians, businessmen, Christian and Moslem leaders and traditional rulers.