Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo plans to improve his country’s relations with members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) if he returns to power in 2025.
“I did not stage a coup to come to power, but I worked with people like Lansana Conté (Republic of Guinea). I collaborated with many heads of state from the army,” former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo told Afomedia last week.
According to him, there is no reason to receive the Gabonese president while rejecting the presidents of Faso, Mali or Niger.
According to Laurent Gbagbo, we must simply accept the AES countries “whose leaders came to power by their own means.”
He then denounced the double standards of certain European leaders who describe the heads of state of the AES as putschists, while “condoning” other coups d’état such as those in Chad and Gabon.
“When I see this, I wonder what is going on in the minds of those who reason like this intellectually. Because either a coup d’état is a coup d’état, or it is not one,” he proteste
d.
In addition to military coups, Laurent Gbagbo also singled out civilian coups, which he puts on the same footing.
“When your Constitution allows you to serve two terms and you serve three, four, five, six or seven, it is a coup d’état,” Mr. Gbagbo said indignantly, before inviting African and European leaders to be more consistent in their positions.
Source: Burkina Information Agency