Gbagbo and Ouattara: Ivory Coast's bitter rivals
by Serge Arnold
ABIDJAN, Oct 27 (AFP) - Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara are leaders
with strikingly different backgrounds and radically opposed styles, locked
in
a bitter struggle for Ivory Coast's top political prize, the presidency.
Ouattara, barred from standing in Sunday's poll which preceded the ouster
of a military regime, heads the Rally for Republicans (RDR). While his
party's
political roots are in the Muslim north, he is nothing if not cosmopolitan.
Observers point out that Ouattara is far from being a strict practising
Muslim. He drinks champagne, is married to a French Catholic of Jewish
descent
and some of his children are Protestants.
A former deputy director of the International Monetary Fund, he is seen
as
a man of the west, well-spoken, well-groomed and with a modern outlook.
Gbagbo, head of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and the only candidate
allowed to take part in an election widely seen as flawed, has the backing
of
the Christian south. In contrast to his rival, the new inaugurated head of
state is seen as a more conventional political animal.
While Gbagbo, long a proclaimed socialist, cannot match Ouattara's
international profile, he has been more concerned with the audience at home
rather than the world stage.
The ambitions of the two men provided some of the fuel for Thursday's
violence, the day of Gbagbo's investiture. Ethnic overtones also fuelled the
brutality.
At least 44 people were killed as FPI activists clashed with Ouattara's
followers, fighting with wooden clubs and machetes in running street
battles.
Ouattara, barred by the Supreme Court from running for president
following
allegations that he was not of full Ivorian nationality, had called for new
elections.
The United States, several African powers including South Africa, and
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan seek the same.
Earlier in the week, at least 60 people died in the uprising led by
Gbagbo's supporters that unseated General Robert Guei after he tried to
declare victory in the elections.
And yet for a period during the 1990s the two leaders found themselves
united in opposition to the then president Henri Konan Bedie, who was
toppled
by last December's military coup that put Guei in power.
But while Gbagbo's FPI chose to join Guei's transitional government,
Ouattara remained in opposition.
Under Bedie's rule, the divisions between the Muslim north and the
Christian south had become more noticeable.
And it was Bedie who waged an intense political and judicial campaign to
eliminate Ouattara as a presidential rival, claiming he was from Burkina
Faso
-- a theme Guei was to build upon, to Gbagbo's benefit.
Guei's sudden downfall at the hands of the Gbagbo camp must have come as
a
surprise to Ouattara's supporters, who had scoffed at their rivals' ability
to
stop the general from seizing the presidency.
Only four days before last Sunday's vote, they wrote in the RDR paper Le
Patriote: "What can Gbagbo do against Guei? Absolutely nothing."
Ouattara, had he not been barred from running, would have been a more
formidable electoral opponent than Guei. The ruling that excluded him was
handed down by Judge Tia Kone, seen as Guei's man.
The reason given, that his Ivorian nationality was in question, is
something Outtara himself hotly disputes, arguing it was just a pretext to
get
rid of a troublesome political rival.
Gbagbo's FPI backed the relevant clause tightening nationality provisions
in a new constitution passed by referendum last July.
As Gbagbo himself put it on the eve of the presidential poll: "At the FPI
we believe that the post of president of the Republic is not a post for
retired high functionaries from other countries ... this is not a stand
against a Muslim, against a man of the north."
For the RDR's Le Patriote, Gbagbo is "the man who has always betrayed".
But the FPI would be quick to point out that it was Ouattara, as prime
minister under former president Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who had Gbagbo
jailed
for six months.
sa/jj/nb
Gbagbo and Ouattara: Ivory Coast's bitter rivals
by Serge Arnold
ABIDJAN, Oct 27 (AFP) - Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara are leaders
with strikingly different backgrounds and radically opposed styles, locked
in
a bitter struggle for Ivory Coast's top political prize, the presidency.
Ouattara, barred from standing in Sunday's poll which preceded the ouster
of a military regime, heads the Rally for Republicans (RDR). While his
party's
political roots are in the Muslim north, he is nothing if not cosmopolitan.
Observers point out that Ouattara is far from being a strict practising
Muslim. He drinks champagne, is married to a French Catholic of Jewish
descent
and some of his children are Protestants.
A former deputy director of the International Monetary Fund, he is seen
as
a man of the west, well-spoken, well-groomed and with a modern outlook.
Gbagbo, head of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and the only candidate
allowed to take part in an election widely seen as flawed, has the backing
of
the Christian south. In contrast to his rival, the new inaugurated head of
state is seen as a more conventional political animal.
While Gbagbo, long a proclaimed socialist, cannot match Ouattara's
international profile, he has been more concerned with the audience at home
rather than the world stage.
The ambitions of the two men provided some of the fuel for Thursday's
violence, the day of Gbagbo's investiture. Ethnic overtones also fuelled the
brutality.
At least 44 people were killed as FPI activists clashed with Ouattara's
followers, fighting with wooden clubs and machetes in running street
battles.
Ouattara, barred by the Supreme Court from running for president
following
allegations that he was not of full Ivorian nationality, had called for new
elections.
The United States, several African powers including South Africa, and
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan seek the same.
Earlier in the week, at least 60 people died in the uprising led by
Gbagbo's supporters that unseated General Robert Guei after he tried to
declare victory in the elections.
And yet for a period during the 1990s the two leaders found themselves
united in opposition to the then president Henri Konan Bedie, who was
toppled
by last December's military coup that put Guei in power.
But while Gbagbo's FPI chose to join Guei's transitional government,
Ouattara remained in opposition.
Under Bedie's rule, the divisions between the Muslim north and the
Christian south had become more noticeable.
And it was Bedie who waged an intense political and judicial campaign to
eliminate Ouattara as a presidential rival, claiming he was from Burkina
Faso
-- a theme Guei was to build upon, to Gbagbo's benefit.
Guei's sudden downfall at the hands of the Gbagbo camp must have come as
a
surprise to Ouattara's supporters, who had scoffed at their rivals' ability
to
stop the general from seizing the presidency.
Only four days before last Sunday's vote, they wrote in the RDR paper Le
Patriote: "What can Gbagbo do against Guei? Absolutely nothing."
Ouattara, had he not been barred from running, would have been a more
formidable electoral opponent than Guei. The ruling that excluded him was
handed down by Judge Tia Kone, seen as Guei's man.
The reason given, that his Ivorian nationality was in question, is
something Outtara himself hotly disputes, arguing it was just a pretext to
get
rid of a troublesome political rival.
Gbagbo's FPI backed the relevant clause tightening nationality provisions
in a new constitution passed by referendum last July.
As Gbagbo himself put it on the eve of the presidential poll: "At the FPI
we believe that the post of president of the Republic is not a post for
retired high functionaries from other countries ... this is not a stand
against a Muslim, against a man of the north."
For the RDR's Le Patriote, Gbagbo is "the man who has always betrayed".
But the FPI would be quick to point out that it was Ouattara, as prime
minister under former president Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who had Gbagbo
jailed
for six months.
sa/jj/nb
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