Ivory Coast: between Laurent and Simone Gbagbo, a divorce and a political rupture

Published on : 06/22/2021 – 19:52

Just returned to Côte d’Ivoire, former President Laurent Gbagbo filed for divorce from his wife, Simone, with whom he formed a formidable tandem in power for ten years, until their arrest in 2011. A family break, political, but also religious.

The press release from Laurent Gbagbo’s lawyer fell on Monday. The former head of state has “resolved” to ask for a divorce in court “because of the repeated refusal for years by Dame Simone Ehivet to consent to an amicable separation”. They have been married since 1989 and had two daughters together.

The case already fascinated the Ivorians and fueled the debates before the return of Laurent Gbagbo, on June 17, after ten years of absence. Would Simone Gbagbo go to the airport to welcome her husband, acquitted in March by international justice? Everyone knew that he had to travel with Nady Bamba, a 47-year-old ex-journalist, his companion since the early 2000s, to whom he is united by a customary marriage.

A couple separated after their arrest

Simone Gbagbo went to Abidjan airport. She went to meet her visibly unenthusiastic husband, said a few words to him in the crowd, then left.

They hadn’t seen each other for ten years. In 2011, they were arrested after their refusal to recognize the presidential victory of their rival Alassane Ouattara. A crisis that had killed more than 3,000 people on both sides.

Laurent Gbagbo was sent to The Hague to stand trial for crimes against humanity. He was finally acquitted in March. Simone Gbagbo was sentenced in Côte d’Ivoire in 2015 to 20 years in prison, then amnestied in August 2018 after seven years of detention.

“Gbagbo becomes Catholic again”

One of Laurent Gbabgo’s first outings in Abidjan took place on Sunday in a very symbolic place: the cathedral. “Gbagbo becomes Catholic again,” the headline headlines Monday. In other words, he is no longer an evangelist, that religious movement so dear to Simone.

If this matters so much, it’s because Simone Gbagbo, 72, is not just a former First Lady, but a leading politician. If all are wondering the role that Laurent Gbagbo, 76 years old will play in the future, the question also arises for her.

They were both staunch opponents of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the country’s first president, from 1960 to 1993 and fought for a multiparty system. They built themselves up in militancy, went to prison. In 1982, she participated in the creation of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) by Laurent Gbagbo. He is still its president, and she is second vice-president.

“From the political tandem, we go face to face”

“The party has not yet met to talk about the issue (of divorce), but it is sure that it will have repercussions,” admits a source within the FPI, an already divided formation.

For Rodrigue Koné, analyst at the Institute on Security Studies (ISS), there will be “a serious leadership conflict” and “it will not be easy for Laurent Gbagbo”. “From the political tandem, we go face to face,” he said. Simone Gbagbo has succeeded in establishing herself as her husband’s political alter ego. “She was saying out loud what Laurent Gbagbo was thinking quietly”, according to him.

Nicknamed “the Iron Lady”, she has been accused of being linked to “death squads” against supporters of Alassane Ouattara, whom she has always hated. And she was heard by the French justice concerning the disappearance of the Franco-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer in 2004 in Abidjan. “She is suspected of having worn a line to the end, radical”, summarizes Rodrigue Koné.

“She has considerable strength,” adds Rinaldo Depagne, analyst at the International Crisis Group (ICG). Coming from a very popular background, she “has made her way into a world of rich people and men”.

Simone Gbagbo remains nicknamed “Mum” by her supporters. For Rinaldo Depagne, it is always “very listened to”, but “in a very small circle”. “He’s the party. He’s the idol. If it had been her back from exile, there wouldn’t have been this fervor in the streets.”

With AFP