Ouattara Sworn-in, Preaches Unity, Reconciliation

Ndubuisi Ugah

22 May 2011

Cries of joy and the emergence of a new dawn Saturday characterised the investiture ceremony of Alassane Ouattara, who was formally inaugurated as the Cote d’Ivoire’s president in a ceremony witnessed by President Goodluck Jonathan, alongside 25 other African and world leaders in Yamoussoukro.

The colourful ceremony, which came nearly six weeks after Ouattara’s predecessor, Mr. Laurent Gbagbo, was forcibly removed from office with the help of French and United Nations military strikes, was held in Yamoussoukro, the home town of Cote d’Ivoire’s founding president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, despite the fact that Abidjan still remained the main commercial city and centre of government.

In his speech, Ouattara called for reconciliation and peace in a country that was once one of Africa’s richest, but has been devastated by years of unrest, political divisions and civil war.

“The time has arrived for Ivoriens to come together,” Ouattara, a former economist and banker, said in a speech that did not deviate from his habitually austere manner.

He during the ceremony called on Ivoriens “to celebrate peace. Like the great people we are, we are going to reunite. Yes, we are going to come together. Let us learn to live together again.”

Ouattara also promised a South African-style “dialogue, truth and reconciliation” commission to look into the conflict, and asked the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes committed “since November 28,” the date of the election whose result Mr. Gbagbo refused to acknowledge.

Prior to the ceremony, vehicular traffic and spectators, who converged on Yamoussoukro to witness Outtara’s investiture, had stretched out the French special security force and the United Nations peace keepers maintaining security during the event.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the crowd started gathering at the Houphouet Boigny Foundation, venue of the ceremony, as early as 5 am.

Some of the supporters had danced around the venue of the ceremony throughout the night, keeping security personnel on edge all night.

Ouattara was declared winner of the presidential election held in Cote d’Ivoire on November 28, 2010, but Gbagbo refused to hand over power.

Gbagbo claimed that the election was rigged in Ouattara’s favour. The former president’s friends in the Constitutional Council declared him the winner and he was sworn in on December 5, 2010.

Ignoring international pressure and advice, Gbagbo ordered his army to besiege the Golf Hotel, where Ouattara was held up for five months. Ouattara was, however, protected by the UN military force.

Gbagbo had turned down offers and invitations from the US, French and Nigerian governments for political asylum, with seven heads of states visiting the country to persuade him to hand over power.

Rebels in the northern part of the country fought their way into Abidjan on March 27 and supported by French soldiers and the UN military force, the rebels arrested Gbagbo on April 11, this year.

Gbagbo was arrested in his bedroom with his wife, Simeone, who had been a firm and open supporter of the former president’s staying on.

AllAfrica – All the Time