Ivory Coast: Former Premier Alassane Ouattara Returns Home After Recent Military Coup

Record ID: 4161

  • Title: Ivory Coast: Former Premier Alassane Ouattara Returns Home After Recent Military Coup
  • Date: 29th December 1999
  • Summary: Former premier Alassane Ouattara has returned home to Ivory Coast saying that the ousting of President Henri Konan Bedie by the army was not a coup d'etat but a revolution to get rid of an "outlaw regime". Ex-government Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara arrived at Abidjan airport and was greeted by supporters and the press in chaotic conditions in the VIP lounge. Some 200 more supporters were outside the airport, chanting "ADO, President", ADO being his initials. Ouattara left his job as deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund in July to take the leadership of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR) party and prepare a challenge to Bedie in an October 2000 presidential election. Bedie dismissed him as a foreigner from neighbouring Burkina Faso, which would make him ineligible to stand for president. A judge began investigating whether Ouattara had submitted forged documents to prove his nationality and an arrest warrant was issued. Ouattara was out of the country at the time and chose to remain in France. The new military junta has invited the political parties to nominate potential ministers in a transitional government. Democratic elections have been promised but no timetable has been set. Ouattara, asked if he might be a member of the interim government, replied, "No", but he went on to say: "My wish is to serve my country through the transition. " He said he would be a candidate in the next presidential election. Junta leader General Robert Guei, continuing a series of meetings to explain the background to the coup, met religious leaders and urged them to rally round the transition. Guei asked a Moslem leader close to Bedie to dissolve his own organisation and join the country's mainstream National Islamic Council (CNI). Moustapha Diaby Koweit, leader of the Higher Islamic Council (CSI), had no immediate comment. Guei has taken pains to woo Bedie's Baoule ethnic group and the Agni, who have dominated power since independence in 1960. Both are part of the southern Christian and animist Akan group. In Mali's capital, Bamako, two rival Ivorian delegations turned up for an emergency meeting of West African foreign ministers called to discuss the coup in Ivory Coast. One delegation represented the junta, led by senior member General Adboulaye Coulibaly, the second represented Bedie, led by his defence minister, Vincent Bandama N'Gatta. N'Gatta, along with Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan, followed Bedie to Togo under French protection after the coup.
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  • Location: IVORY COAST COTE D'IVOIRE ABIDJAN AIRPORTS
  • Reuters ID: LDL0012C3GQAN
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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  • Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
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