In Ivory Coast, on March 2, 2023, the African Peoples’ Party – Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), the party of former President Laurent, denounced the “arbitrary” arrest of 31 sympathizers and the “intimidation and abusive arrests” of members of the party leadership during a press conference.
The PPA-CI paints a contrasting picture of the current context. On the one hand, this pan-African opposition party is delighted to join the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (CEI). Its commissioner, Demba Traoré, was sworn in on March 1st, 2023. For the party, this is a concrete act resulting from the conclusions of the political dialogue carried out last year.
On the other hand, Laurent Gbagbo’s party claims to face many difficulties. In front of the press, Justin Koné Katinan, the spokesperson for the PPA-CI, lists examples of aborted meetings due, in his words, to “obstructing the freedom of movement of PPA-CI activists”.
Added to this, the indictment of the Secretary General of the party, Damana Pickass, suspected of being involved in the attack on a military camp in April 2021, and the arrest of 31 activists for acts relating to “unrest to public order”.