Laurent Gbagbo: The man, his rise and fall

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Laurent Gbagbo

The man Laurent Gbagbo might have gone down in history as one of the people who worked hard to build a political career, reach the pinnacle and come tumbling down through their own making.

Monday April 11, 2011 at about 14:30 GMT Laurent Gbagbo was trending on Twitter. And that was the day that he was literally smoked out of what was initially reported to be a bunker in the Presidential residence. It turned out that, it wasn’t a bunker after all, but a basement.

Gbagbo had a long, momentous, and remarkable history behind him. He is a teacher by profession, he holds a PhD in history from a French University.

The man who was captured Monday morning April 11, 2011 for refusing to hand over power to his opponent after election run-off in November 2010 and disgracefully shown on international television and the Internet could have been a Colossus, a political enigma in Ivory Coast but for his intransigence and strong headedness.

Laurent Koudou Gbagbo was born on May 31, 1945 in Gagnoa to Zepe Paul Koudou (his father) and Gado Marguerite Koudou Paul (his mother). He is from the Bété tribe.

Gbagbo started his primary education in Agboville and Gagnoa and graduated in June of 1958. In June1965, he began studying for his first high school diploma certificate from the Traditional College of Abidjan.

He later gained admission to the University of Lyon in France where he studied Latin, Greek, and French and was nicknamed “Cicero” because of his love for Latin. He, however, did not finish his degree.

In 1969, he went back home to complete his undergraduate studies at the University of Abidjan, earning a bachelor’s degree in history.

Gbagbo went back to France in 1970 and completed his Master of Arts in history degree  at the University of Paris at the Sorbonne and after he taught History and Geography at the University of Abidjan.

He obtained a doctorate degree in history at Paris Diderot University in France in 1979.

During his youthful days, Gbagbo got deeply involved in the political activities in his country. He was arrested for his political organizing activities in 1969.

He was imprisoned on March 31, 1971 for publishing subversive materials against the Ivorian government but released in January of 1974.

He became one of the main political opponents of the Late Presidency Félix Houphouët-Boigny when he formed the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) in 1982.

Even though he formed the FPI party, to prove his credentials as a democrat, he contested for the party’s Secretary –General position in November 1988 and won in an election.

When multi-party democracy was introduced in 1990 in Ivory Coast, Gbagbo was the only candidate to contest President Houphouët-Boigny in the October 1990 presidential election.

In 1992 he was sentenced to two years in prison, charged with inciting violence, but was released later in the year.

In July 1999, the FPI chose him as its Presidential candidate for the October 2000 presidential election.

The 2000 election was preceded by a military coup led by Robert Guéï after the death of then President Houphouët-Boigny in December 1999.

But Robert Guéï did not allow other presidential hopefuls like Alassane Ouattara, who was accused of “not being a real Ivoirian”, or Bedie to contest but allowed Gbagbo.

After the election Guéï claimed victory but he was toppled by Gbagbo, who then swore-in himself as President on

Laurent Gbagbo

October 26, 2000.

But his term in office was rocked by political conflict which eventually left the country deeply divided. Indeed, the country was divided into two.

While Gbagbo ruled one half of the country, the other was taken over by rebels. The rebels seized Ivorian cities of Bouaké, and Korhogo.

However a peace deal between the government and the rebels was signed on March 4, 2007 in Burkina Faso. As a result of the peace deal,Guillaume Soro, leader of the rebel group was offered the Prime Minister position as a compromise.

Meanwhile, even though, Gbagbo’s term of office expired on October 30, 2005, he was given an extension to hold on until the 2010 presidential elections in which he was fiercely contested by Alassane Ouattara. The election went into a second round which was held on November 28, 2010.

The Electoral Commission of Ivory Coast declared Alassane Ouattara the winner, making Gbagbo the loser. But dissatisfied, Gbagbo later claimed that votes from nine regions were fraudulent.

The Ivorian Constitutional Council in a separate decision nullified the EC of Ivory Coast’s decision and declared Laurent Gbagbo as the President, then trouble began for the once prosperous nation.

Gbagbo’s action was strongly and roundlycondemned by the United Nations, ECOWAS, AU, the US, France and other Western countries who on the other hand, recognized  Ouattara as the legitimate winner of the election.

And despite being advised to cede power, Gbagbo refused, insisting he had won the elections. As part of negotiations to get him to step down, he was made various offers including an opportunity to move to the US and take up a teaching appointment at an American university, but he turned that down.

Subsequently, economic sanctions as well as travel bans were imposed on him and his close associates by the international community.

A CNN report citing a senior African diplomat said Gbagbo was offered the chance to teach at Boston University as a visiting professor in the United States if he would renounce his claim to be president of Ivory Coast and end the country’s civil war.

The report also said Gbagbo was promised that the International Criminal Court would not seek to charge him with crimes, and his rival Ouattara offered to form a cabinet with up to 30% of Gbagbo supporters.

Gbabgo rejected the deal, and ensconced himself inside the Presidential residence while his forces and supporters battled with Ouattara’s forces and supporters.

Several thousands of Ivorians fled the country into exile and other several hundreds were killed.

As the stalemate dragged on, with the support of French and UN forces, Ouattara forces reportedly captured him Monday.

Gbagbo’s fall from grace to grass is remarkable in the sense that he started well as a democrat, but ended up disgracefully as a dictator, clinging tight to power that he had lost as soon as the UN pronounced him the loser of the November 2010 election run-off.

Ivory Coast, the world’s leading producer of cocoa, is now in a fluid situation with no immediate end in site as remnants of Gbagbo’s supporters are reported to be firing guns in the capital Abidjan.

As that goes on, Ouattara has said Gbagbo will be put on trial.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi & Ekow Quandzie

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