For the first time since his return to Côte d'Ivoire, former President Laurent Gbagbo spoke on Monday about his judgment and his acquittal by the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying he had been sent to The Hague because
" it was necessary to remove an embarrassing man ”
.
"The ICC, it was not serious, it was necessary to dismiss an embarrassing man, an embarrassing competitor, so I was put there"
, declared Laurent Gbagbo at his home in Mama, his native village in the center. western Côte d'Ivoire.
Read also: The return of Laurent Gbagbo ten years after his fall puts Côte d'Ivoire under tension
But, he added in front of traditional chiefs, executives of his party and the press,
"I do not regret, because if I had returned with a title of criminal, it is you all here who were going to have shame ”
.
Laurent Gbagbo was definitively acquitted at the end of March by the ICC, where he was notably accused of crimes against humanity, which allowed his return to Côte d'Ivoire.
“Even the whites who don't know us, who follow our little quarrels here, knew that I (was) not a criminal.
I do everything, eh, but I'm not a criminal, ”
said Laurent Gbagbo under the laughter of the audience.
He was speaking at the end of a meeting with traditional chiefs majestically draped in colorful loincloths from all over the region of his center-west stronghold, who entrusted him with a
“reconciliation”
mission
.
“It is his presence that we expected for reconciliation.
He must rely on his popularity to call the Ivorian people to total reconciliation
,
"
Joseph Goli Obou, the
" land chief "
of Mama, a local authority, surrounded by notables
, told AFP
.
These traditional leaders should also participate in a ceremony intended to
"purify" him
, as is the tradition of his Bété ethnicity for someone who has been imprisoned and released.
"Make peace"
"Tomorrow (Tuesday) when I am going to purify him, I will ask him to be at the service of reconciliation, that his first words to the nation go in the direction of reconciliation,"
said the
"head of the land",
claiming to be appointed by his peers for this ceremony.
“In Bété country, when a family member comes out of a difficult situation, they are purified. This consists of washing it at your doorstep very early in the morning, before sunrise, with a mixture made from traditional Kpobrai and Titai twigs and leaves
,
”
explains the septuagenarian chef.
In the public square in the public square of Mama, the inhabitants of the village waited in vain, dancing and singing, for the ex-president to come and talk to them.
"Gbagbo came to restore peace to the nation," exclaims Brigitte Koudou, from the adjoining village of Zébizékou. “I am in joy, this day is special. President Gbagbo is free. We want to hear him, let him say only one word, ”
declares Beatrice Djédjé, who came from Kpakpékou, a branch as a
“ sign of peace and reconciliation ”
in her hand. Several thousand people gave him a triumphant welcome in Mama on Sunday, ten days after his return to Abidjan.
A return to Mama which did not give rise to any incident, unlike her arrival on June 17 in Abidjan, marked by numerous clashes between the police and her supporters who wanted to welcome her near the airport. Laurent Gbagbo, in power since 2000, was arrested in April 2011 in Abidjan, then transferred seven months later to the ICC to be tried there for the violence committed following the presidential election at the end of 2010. His refusal to recognize his defeat to Alassane Ouattara had caused a bloody post-election crisis that left 3,000 dead. Reelected in October 2020 for a controversial third term, Alassane Ouattara gave the green light for the return of Laurent Gbagbo a few days after his acquittal.