Category: Politics

Cameroonian authorities say record flooding on its western border with Nigeria has killed at least six people, washed away homes, and destroyed thousands of tons of food meant for export.

In a video circulated on social media platforms by Widium council officials, civilians asked the Cameroon government to help clear the road of earth, mud and stones to enable them to leave Widikum.

Among the merchants is Paul Okafor, a Nigerian who buys palm oil and vegetables from Widikum to sell in his country. He said floods and landslides have blocked him in Widikum for five days, and no vehicle has been able to leave or enter because flood waters have covered roads and landslides are pulling down hills on roadsides.

Okafor said the vegetables and tomatoes he bought are beginning to rot, and Widikum vegetable farmers are complaining that their harvest is decaying.

Andoh Stanilos, the mayor of Widikum district, acknowledged that his council staff shared the videos. He said floods that triggered landslides killed six people, left hundreds homeless, and destroyed homes and warehouses.

“The floodplains overflooded and completely swept off houses,” he said. “At the moment I speak, there are over 55 people who are without something to eat. The council is trying to mobilize some resources, so I send this SOS to the government and people of goodwill to come to the assistance of persons who are destitute now.”

The floods destroyed a 36-meter-long bridge on the River Momo, keeping hundreds of merchants and commuters stranded on both sides of the river. Momo, an administrative unit where Widikum is found, is a production basin for palm oil, maize, potato, tomatoes and vegetables.

Cameroon’s National Observatory on Climate Change last month predicted that floods and landslides would hit many Cameroonian towns and villages including Widikum.

Forghab Patrick, deputy director general of the observatory, said homes built in flood-risk areas made the situation even worse.

“People build in marshy areas,” Patrick said. “What happens? Water cannot circulate correctly because the houses block even the waterways and at the end of the day, those living in those homes are all exposed.”

The government said it is educating people to stop settling on risk zones, but has not said if it will provide the food and water-hungry victims are asking for.

Source: Voice of America

Kenyan police say the body of an election official has been found just outside the capital with signs of torture. The discovery was made as Kenya’s election chief said his staff faces a spate of threats and abductions surrounding the announcement of election results.

The body of 53-year-old Daniel Musyoka, an official presiding over the election in Nairobi, was found in Kilombero forest, Kajiado county. Kenyan media that the body, discovered late Monday by herders, showed signs of struggle and torture.

Police officials in Kajiado county believe the Mosyoka might have been killed elsewhere and the body dumped in the area. He had disappeared Thursday from his election tallying center in Nairobi.

Wafula Chebukati, chairperson of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, said Monday electoral officers were targeted during the election period.

“We have staff who have been profiled,” he said. “There is a staff member, a returning officer Embakasi West, who disappeared on duty. We have staff who have been arbitrarily arrested for unknown reasons. We don’t know where they are. Some from this national tallying center.”

The latest incidents raise concerns about a repeat of the violence that has plagued past elections in Kenya.

Days before the 2017 election an electoral official in charge of IT, Chris Musando, was killed.

Kenya’s electoral commission announced incumbent Deputy President William Ruto the winner of last week’s presidential vote. His main challenger, Raila Odinga, through a representative, has refused to accept the results.

Some electoral officers were accused of tampering with election results and mishandling voting materials. Some officers have been summoned to court on charges of electoral malfeasance.

The announcement of the results has sparked both celebrations and violent protests in some parts of the country, including the capital.

Source: Voice of America

Professor Ghideon Abbay is a mathematician, a historian and, as he proudly says, an Eritrean struggling to inspire the Eritrean youth and fix distorted images of Eritrea. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of Richmond, Virginia, USA, and labels himself and his fellow Eritreans in the diaspora ambassadors of Eritrea engaged in public diplomacy. This interview focuses on the challenges Eritrean-Americans face in the United States and the efforts they make to defend Eritrea.

Thank you for your time Professor. Please, give us a picture of ‘Hizbawi Mekete’ in North America.

It is an all-encompassing Mekete and I like that you left it undefined because it is unparalleled. Wherever they are Eritreans are passionate about their country. There are accusations that are repeatedly made by some people with agenda or by special interest groups. Firstly, Mekete is directed at making Eritreans, especially the young, grounded in their identity. As African Americans living in America, they have to deal with a lot of challenges. The governments there want the Eritreans living there to forget their identity and melt away. So, making sure second and third-generation Eritrean Americans in the US stay rooted in their own background and identity with all the challenges they face as African Americans is a challenge.

Secondly, when we live in the US as Eritrean Americans, we want our youth to be successful academically, professionally, and economically. People of color have to pass through a lot of hurdles to be successful, so we want to ensure that we build successful youth in all aspects of life. Thirdly, as Eritreans, we have a country for which a lot has been paid for its survival. A lot of young lives have been paid for independence and to guard Eritrea’s sovereignty. So, we want to make sure that Eritrea is presented in the real light because there is a lot of distorted information spread by enemies of Eritrea, far and near.

There is a pervasive distorted perception of the US-led world that considers Africans subhuman, capable of committing any crime. So, first and foremost, as African Americans, we have to fight for our dignity. Secondly, we have to fight for the proper presentation of our population against the racist narrative in which all of us black people are presented. On top of that, we have enemies, close and far, that really want to misrepresent us. We were misrepresented when we were fighting for our independence, during the TPLF war of aggression from the 1990s to this very day. The negative narrative by the media and the misrepresentation of the Eritrean people and their government is so pervasive that even those that know us are tempted to be influenced by; let alone people who don’t know us. That is why ‘Hzbawi Mekete’ is multi-dimensional. It is a word that cannot be distilled into an English word. I am an advocate for ‘Hzbawi Mekete’ to be adopted as an English word just as there are several English words that cannot be translated appropriately into Tigrigna and have been adopted.

At the seminar you conducted, you said that to live in the US, you either have to be great in number or financially, two things we Eritreans don’t have. How are the small number of Eritreans living in that sea of a world?

Individually, it is a struggle. We struggle as people of color are struggling. Politically, as you mentioned, the US political system only cares about two things. You either have to have money or be big in number. That way they could benefit from the majority and power of a certain people in terms of votes and other economic contributions or you have to have a padded pocket. We don’t have both, so how do we make up for this? By working hard and making sure that every Eritrean is an ambassador for his country. Our little number and meager resources are multiplied by our resilience and continuous engagement, from the young to the old, men and women alike, those of us from the rural or the urban areas, from taxi drivers to vendors who have small businesses in city corners. We all consider ourselves ambassadors who represent our people and tell the plight of our people that has repeatedly been served injustice. The injustice on Eritreans is unparalleled in history. I know there are people who went through genocide and other forms of atrocities, but from the 53 countries in Africa, why were we the only nation to be deprived of our independence?

It isn’t today’s or yesterday’s government’s fault but our strategically important location that exposes us to continuous aggression. The Red Sea is very important to those who want to dominate and control. Those powers don’t want Eritrea to exercise its self-determination and decide its own future. We have been repeatedly wronged; wronged by the US, wronged by the UN, the EU, the AU, you name it. Yesterday, Eritrea had to depend on, today it has to depend on and tomorrow, it will depend on its own people, its own children, and we are playing a very minor and very small role compared to the population inside the country. For us, it’s our national duty. We cannot allow Eritrea’s image to be distorted, vilified, or sullied while we are there.

In the 1940s and 1950s, there weren’t many Eritreans out there but people like Ibrahim Sultan were trying to defend Eritrea. Today, we are bigger in number which encourages us to continue the ‘Hzbawi Mekete’ in fighting for our rights. We are not fighting to take away people’s rights, but we don’t want people to step on our toes. That’s why we try to work in tandem with our people here. We, in the US, don’t consider ourselves to be doing anything more than any Eritrean elsewhere in the world is doing other than the fact that we happen to be in the middle, the epicenter of world domination in the form of the US government. We are part and parcel of the US population and we respect it and have admiration for it, but the US political system, particularly the special interest groups don’t want to see small countries like Eritrea succeed. So, should we let this small but, for us, our world, Eritrea, be stepped on? Eritrea may be small for others, but, for us, it’s our world. Eritrea has to be defended to the nail and that’s what we are doing.

What challenges do Eritreans living in the US face and how do they deal with them?

It is tough, especially when you are vilified culturally, politically and religiously. If you are not well grounded in your history and you don’t have solid knowledge of your own culture and values, you wouldn’t be able to defend it. There is a machine very well-designed to confuse the youth so that they could turn their backs on their own people. The information from WikiLeaks made it clear. Indeed, as exposed in the WikiLeaks Report, their approach hinges on: “let’s try to infiltrate the Eritrean communities and basically reshape them in our own image”. This is a well-designed and coordinated attack, but the youth are organized in the form of YPFDJ, NUEW, and many other organizations that are not willing to accept this false narrative about people of culture and value. Eritreans in the diaspora might come here [Eritrea] for not more than three to four weeks, but they are willing to give their necks for their country.

Living in the US is difficult, particularly for those who were born and have been raised there. If you are supposed to give negative examples of your own country in your history or civics lesson, what is to be expected? They want to scare you so that you won’t visit your own country. They do that so you don’t get connected to your origin. What our young in the diaspora see when they visit Keren, Asmara or Massawa is one thing, but it is all overshadowed by what they see in social media, which is filled with a lot of false narratives. On top of that, there is another layer, the fact that we are black, and we all know how African Americans were treated in the past. If someone is standing on your neck until you die for a minor mistake, what does that mean?

Our youth, especially the males, are always threatened by the system in the US. So, you have to teach your children their culture and history. It becomes a source of energy to succeed academically, professionally and so on. They work hard in spite of their meager resources. When you tell them ‘Zgadel Yiewet’ in Tigrigna, which is translated as ‘one who struggles, wins’, they become very motivated. This was a motivating factor for me when I was young and it still is like that for the new generation. We do a lot of work trying to lead the youth on the right path at home and also at the community level. We have organizations that cater to those under 18 in mother tongue schools, and we have organizations like Hdri and YPFDJ and student associations in all educational platforms. So, it’s a constant struggle and we believe that our small number and lack of resources don’t scare us because the resilience that we have learned from our people keeps us strong throughout our struggle.

Many Eritrean academicians and researchers are gathering to write about Eritrea based on research. What can you tell us about that and the NCEA?

The NCEA, which stands for the National Council of Eritrean Americans, is an umbrella that brings together PFDJ, NUEW, YPFDJ, Hdri organization of Eritrean Americans, Horn of Africa Foundation and multitude of Eritrean business owners, and the Voice of Eritrea in Washington DC. We have Eritrean communities across the US, and these groups named their organization NCEA basically for lack of a better term. It is not a new organization; it just combines these groups together so their work is multiplied. Call it synergy if you want; synergy to bring about this whole collective energy that we have in these organizations. There are those that do the research academically and there are also others that work hard on the streets for Eritrea. Therefore, the work being done is a collective work that isn’t attributed to a single group. The magazines, newsletters and overall information campaign that we work on is a collective work. Of course, there are people who lead the work but it’s an Eritrean tradition to work and claim together. There are many Eritrean sayings that reflect the advantages of collective efforts. For example, we say “Habiren zsehaba qtni arqay yexemb’A,” which is basically translated as “thin threads that pull together break down a Bamboo tree”.

We succeeded in the past, as Eritreans, in defending our country and subduing an enemy that was supported by massive powers because we were united. Individual efforts might be negligible but when efforts are combined, they give amazing outcomes.

We cannot take it when someone that knows basically nothing about Eritrea opens their mouth to badmouth Eritrea. It’s unacceptable and I cannot allow someone to badmouth my country as much as I don’t like them to do so to my mother. It’s unfair for a parachute journalist who knows nothing about the culture, language and context of a country that is known for its values, hospitality, and good culture, to come and write about the country. What they do is come with a script and get any image that fits their script. I will give you an example. A journalist once came to Eritrea and saw what we call ‘Wefera,’ where people were helping someone to build a house. The journalist reported this saying ‘behind Eritrea’s eyes, we saw slave labor.’ Only a person that is grounded in slavery and benefited from slavery might think of slavery simply because they saw a genuine group of Eritreans’ work of ‘Wefera’. Growing up, we ploughed and harvested our fields in ‘Wefera’. It is an honorable Eritrean culture of supporting one another. So, for someone that has no clue about ‘Wefera’ to come and badmouth the beautiful tradition is abominable. It’s unacceptable and the journalist hasn’t apologized to this day. Worse still, she isn’t even indigenous to Europe. But she was given a narrative, and she was looking for slave labor. She came and asked this man at the ‘Wefera’ how much he paid the people who were working. He said that he didn’t have to pay because they were helping him as it is the norm. She labeled it slavery just like that. It is strange that she wasn’t even smart enough to mute the audio.

Another thing is the Ethiopian civil war that we saw two years ago and how it was reported to misrepresent Eritrean values. Throwing all those crimes and accusations against humanity at Eritrea’s feet is unacceptable. So, we have to respond to these accusations. The media in the West don’t care about Africa and its people. The journalists run to the press with whatever appears to be a weapon of accusation against the people of Africa; no verification. They tell us their journalism seeks the truth by comparing and verifying facts but when it comes to Africans, they don’t care. If by some miracle, their sources are Africans, they take the words as words of the Gospel or Quran. These things make our blood boil and provoke us to defend Eritrea as we are entitled to it. Some people might give information that is alien to the Eritrean people and their culture just to be granted asylum. So, as an Eritrean living in the US, all of these force you to speak up.

Can you name a few active Eritreans that are involved in the efforts you’re making to defend Eritrea?

There is a famous Eritrean song that goes ‘who would I praise and who would I leave?’ All I know is that they are all Eritreans, real Eritreans working for a common goal. I cannot mention names here because they all have their share of hard work and efforts. The youth that we have, are so active in social media that they make twitter ban their accounts. This speaks for itself. Of course, now I am talking about Simon. But there are many Simons on Twitter doing the same work as every Eritrean. In most of the documents that we prepare, there are no names. They are Eritrean documents and no more.

What will your writings focus on?

The writings will continue and, as I said, all of us in our respective fields are working on it. It takes a lot but, hopefully, we shall be motivated to write books so that we can tell our own narrative in our own words. I am honestly sick and tired of people writing about Eritrea when they have no clue about what Eritrea is. I am tired of people who get their Ph.D. and other degrees writing on Eritrea when they actually know nothing about it, writing about Eritrea that would not pass the litmus test of an ordinary Eritrean let alone that of those who are making history and know details about it. The easiest way for non-Eritreans, especially those from the global North, is to write their thesis about obscure places which they know that their committee would not know about. Just like the person that gets accredited for badmouthing a country they never get to know. Then, when there is a need for a testimony of some sort, it’s usually those fake experts that are called to testify to Congress and Parliament. This is because they write about a country they want to subdue. An African isn’t asked to come to testify for issues of Africa because, for them, what is a black man after all? ‘Yesterday, they were our slaves,’ is what they think. The US might have left the old slavery but the mentality about Africans still persists. That’s why instead of asking Africans to testify for their own lives, they count on their own people that repeat the narratives they want. While the Africans are deprived of such a right, the outsiders sit on chairs to judge them. Based on that, they come up with inhumane policies to punish Africa. This is what we are fighting against, both as Africans and as Eritreans living in America.

Any final message, professor?

Well, as Eritreans, we have come far through our own resilience and unified efforts. If there are forces and individuals that want to subdue Eritrea, they would have to disturb this unity, and we should never allow them to do that. We have a history that all of us should be proud of and we need to build on it so that the young inside and outside of the country can keep the values of hospitality, love, kindness and peace on which Eritrea stands. This shall help the world to know us for who we are and not for what our enemies want us to be. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.

Thank you, professor.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

The first U.N.-chartered vessel set to transport grain from Ukraine to Africa docked Friday in Ukraine.

The vessel will carry the first shipment of humanitarian food to Africa under a U.N.-backed plan to move grain trapped by Russia’s war on Ukraine and to help relieve a global food crisis.

Previous ships with grain that were allowed to leave Ukraine under the deal were not humanitarian, and their cargoes had been purchased by other nations or vendors.

Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure, wrote in a tweet that the newly docked vessel would be loaded with 23,000 metric tons of grain bound for Ethiopia. The African nation, along with Somalia and Kenya, is facing the region’s worst drought in four decades.

“The wheat grain will go to the World Food Program’s operations in Ethiopia, supporting WFP’s Horn of Africa drought response as the threat of famine stalks the drought-hit region,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Friday.

“It is one of many areas around the world where the near complete halt of Ukrainian grain and food on the global market has made life even harder for families already struggling with rising hunger,” he said.

The ship MV Brave Commander arrived Friday in Yuzhne, Ukraine, east of Odesa on the Black Sea coast. After being loaded with wheat it will travel to Djibouti, where the grain will be unloaded and sent to Ethiopia, according to the United Nations.

Around 20 million metric tons of grain has been unable to leave Ukraine since Russia’s February invasion of the country.

On July 22, Kyiv and Moscow signed a landmark agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Black Sea grain deliveries.

Turkey has opened a special facility in Istanbul at the mouth of the Black Sea to oversee the exports. It is staffed by civilian and military officials from the warring sides and delegates from Turkey and the U.N.

Source: Voice of America

Our guest today is Isak Abraham, a young artist who has introduced String Art, a new form of art, to Eritrea. Isak was born in 1996 in Ethiopia and came to Eritrea in 2003. He studied Construction Technology at Eritrea Institute of Technology at Mai Nefhi and is currently working at Badme Construction Company.

How did you get into string art?

I was introduced to string art through an exhibition that was broadcast on television. I was amazed to see such splendid art of various curves done only by strings. On my vision board I wrote a plan to make 30 string art and have an exhibition. But due to the pandemic I wasn’t able to achieve my goal. Then I had the opportunity to make 25 pieces of work. I had to learn how to do it by watching YouTube videos that I downloaded from the Internet. At the beginning it was very hard but when you keep on doing it, it becomes easy.

Tell me something about string art.

String art is a form of art done by using string, nails and wooden table. There are two types of string art – Representative cure and Geometric patterns (quadratic Bezier curve). In Representative curve, the strings serve as colors because the sketch is already designed by the nails, but string art is represented better in Geometric patterns, which make it possible to create different types and more meaningful curves without the use of nails. What makes string art unique is that whenever you see it, it always conveys new messages and meanings. String art makes the artist more creative, especially Geometric patterns.

How do you choose your colors?

I have never taken any class about color. I learned through trial and error, which is why it took me longer than intended to complete my works.

What messages do you convey through your work?

All of my works have messages. For instance, when I was making “Africa” I had to redo it several times because I wanted to show today’s Africa in relation to the bright future it could have. Through my work called “Green Legacy,” I wanted to pay tribute to those who contributed in the past and those who are contributing toward making our country green. And through my work titled “Unity,” which took more strings to make than the others, I wanted to say that fullness is found in unity. Again through “Two worlds” I want to show that although every person lives in some part of the world that others do not live in, we need to recognize that we all live in the same one world. For me all of my works have meaningful messages, but there are some that don’t have titles because I wanted to let the admirers of art to make their own interpretations. After all art is for the people.

Aim of your exhibition…

To create a space for a totally new form of art in our country, where we seem to be familiar only with paintings, and also show that the beauty created by string art can’t be found in paintings and vice versa. Each type of art has its own beauty. The goal is to create a new platform of art. For example, an idea to make a new form of art by combining string art with painting has been born at the exhibition as a result of suggestions from several painters.

Feedback of the people…

Probably because it’s been done for the first time in our country, I’m being admired. I think the real evaluation will be given in my 2nd and 3rd exhibitions. I know what I have done so far is the most basic and understand that I have to do more, especially considering that the Asians are taking string art to its highest level.

Challenges you had…

Mostly my own mistakes were my biggest challenges, but they are also my base for my present status and my future. Also, not having anyone to consult for feedback did make it a bit difficult. The most disappointing moment is when you discover at the last stage that you have made a mistake or aren’t satisfied with the combination of colors you wanted. This means you have to do it all over again. It takes a lot of patience . And there were financial issues. But if you have a clear vision and are willing to work, no stumbling block can prevent you from achieving your goal.

Future plans…

I believe what can make me a fine artist is portraying or creating a beauty by using materials that are found around me, including things that people throw away, and help create a sustainable environment. I intend to improve the art by using recycled materials to persuade every person to play their own role in creating good environment.

Recommendation…

Sixty percent of those who wrote comments show that they have a good taste of art, I would recommend to the associations involved in art and in recycled materials to create platforms to assist those who have wonderful ideas but lack the means to showcase them. By helping those that aren’t known and the young as a whole, we help develop the art of our country to an international level.

Any final messages…

I would like to thank Segen Art Gallery who have given me space for the exhibition free of charge to encourage me. I also thank my parents and my friends who have supported me in every way. Without their support, this exhibition wouldn’t have been successful.

Finally, I would like to say to the youngsters that it is never enough to be a dreamer. We must go out there and give what we would like to do a try no matter what the challenges are. We shouldn’t be afraid of trying new things; we should be practical people as the world has enough dreamers but not enough people of action.

Thank you for your time.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

BUTHA-BUTHE, LESOTHO — While millions across Europe sweat through a summer of record-breaking heat, they’re skiing in Africa.

Don’t worry. This isn’t another sign of climate change but rather the fascinating anomaly of Lesotho, a tiny mountain kingdom completely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho has an obscure geographical claim to fame: It’s the only country on Earth where every inch of its territory sits more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level.

That gives Lesotho snow in the southern hemisphere’s winters. And while cold winters aren’t rare in southern Africa, snow is and ski resorts are even rarer. At an altitude of 3,000 meters (9,842 feet), Afriski in Lesotho’s Maluti Mountains is Africa’s only operating ski resort south of the equator.

“I’ve never seen snow in my life,” said Kafi Mojapelo, who traveled the short distance from South Africa for a skiing vacation she never thought she’d take. “So, this is a great experience.”

Bafana Nadida, who comes from the sprawling urban township of Soweto in Johannesburg, was delighted with putting ski boots on for the first time. He planned a day of ski lessons, taking pictures and just playing about in the snow.

Skiers and snowboarders lined up to rent the proper gear. Some were given pointers by Hope Ramokotjo, who is from Lesotho and has worked as a self-taught ski and snowboard instructor for 12 years. His wide smile and deep, reassuring voice puts beginners at ease.

“Push your heels out. Don’t pull your shoulders,” Ramokotjo called out to his class of keen yet inexperienced African skiers as they wobbled along on the snow. “Here you go! Nice!”

Afriski’s Kapoko Snow Park is the only freestyle snow park on the continent. Competitors lined up last month for the annual Winter Whip Slopestyle snowboard and ski competition. Sekholo Ramonotsi, a 13-year-old from the Lesotho city of Butha-Buthe who practices regularly at Afriski, won the junior snowboard and ski divisions.

“I would really like to ski in Europe,” he said.

London-born Meka Lebohang Ejindu said he has taught skiing and snowboarding in Austria for more than a decade, and this is his first season in the southern hemisphere. He has family roots in Lesotho.

“For a competition like this to happen in southern Africa is so heartwarming,” he said.

Afriski may not be at the level of Europe’s vast Alpine resorts, but a love of winter sports is catching.

At Afriski’s Sky Restaurant and Gondola Cafe, happy hour starts at 10 a.m. and skiers and boarders show off their winter fashions and party to house music, beers in hand. Some claim the bar is the highest in Africa, although that’s challenged by the Sani Mountain Lodge, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the east on the Lesotho-South Africa border.

What no one can dispute is this crowd went skiing in Africa.

Source: Voice of America

ABIDJAN — Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Saturday said he had offered a presidential pardon to longtime rival Laurent Gbagbo, as part of a reconciliation drive with his predecessors ahead of elections in 2025.

Gbagbo, president from 2000-2011, returned to Ivory Coast last year after being acquitted in 2019 by the Hague on war crimes charges for his role in a civil war sparked by his refusal to concede defeat after the 2010 election.

Back home, he still faced a 20-year prison sentence for a 2019 conviction linked to the robbery of funds from the Abidjan central bank during the post-election period. He has always denied the charges.

“In order to further strengthen social cohesion, I have signed a decree granting a presidential pardon to Laurent Gbagbo,” Ouattara said in a televised speech to the nation ahead of its independence day on Sunday.

He said he had also asked for Gbagbo’s accounts to be unfrozen and for the payment of the arrears of his presidential lifetime annuity.

The decision follows a rare meeting in July between Ouattara, Gbagbo, and former president Henri Konan Bedie.

The trio have dominated Ivory Coast’s fractious political scene since the 1990s. Bedie was president from 1993 until his ouster in a 1999 coup. Gbagbo governed from 2000 until his election defeat to Ouattara in 2010.

Tensions came to a head most dramatically after the 2010 election. Gbagbo refused to concede defeat, leading to a brief civil war that killed about 3,000 people before rebel forces aligned with Ouattara swept into the main city Abidjan.

Ouattara has presided over relative stability during his decade in power. But dozens of people were killed in clashes that broke out around the 2020 election, when he stood for a third term that Gbagbo and Bedie said was unconstitutional.

The president has not yet said whether he plans to run for a fourth term in 2025. He has said he would like to step down but also suggested he would need Gbagbo and Bedie to commit to withdrawing from politics in order to do so.

They have not so far indicated what their plans are.

Source: Voice of America