Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, la revanche de la "Dame de fer" ivoirienne
The image of her arrest in 2011, at the twilight of a bloody crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, had been seen around the world. Having spent time in prison before being pardoned, former First Lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo is running for president on Saturday and wants to chart her own course.
"We are at an important moment in the history of Côte d'Ivoire," she said Wednesday evening during a meeting with activists in Yopougon, a commune of Abidjan that was long a stronghold of the Gbagbos.
From now on, the name is conjugated in the singular: the break with Laurent, president from 2000 to 2011, is complete on both the civil and political levels.
After the 2010-2011 crisis, he was imprisoned in The Hague, while she spent time in prison in Côte d'Ivoire. He was acquitted in 2021 by international justice of crimes against humanity, while she was convicted in Abidjan of endangering state security and then amnestied in 2018.
Their paths separated definitively in 2021, when, upon his return to Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo got off the plane arm in arm with his new wife, Nady Bamba, and openly snubbed Simone, who had come to greet him.
"It wasn't good," said a close friend, sharing a sentiment widely shared among the pro-Gbagbo electorate.
On Saturday, only Simone's name, 76, will be on the ballot; her ex-husband - who was divorced in 2022 - has not given any voting instructions.
Born in 1949 to a gendarme father in a family of 18 children, she studied history and linguistics.
After being imprisoned in the 1970s for criticizing the then president, Felix Houphouët-Boigny, she co-founded the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) in 1982 with Laurent Gbagbo, whom she married seven years later.
Together they will have twin daughters, one of whom is by his side during the campaign.
Converted to evangelical Christianity in the late 1990s after escaping a car accident, she regularly refers to God in her speeches.
When a rebellion broke out in 2002, Mr. Gbagbo was in power, and the so-called "Iron Lady" adopted a tough stance and was accused of being linked to death squads against Mr. Ouattara's supporters. She was also questioned by the French courts in the disappearance of French-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer in 2004 in Abidjan.
However, she has never been convicted of blood crimes, either by Côte d'Ivoire or by the ICC, which lifted the arrest warrant against her in 2021.
In 2010, when the country plunged into post-election crisis, "Simone" or "Maman," as her admirers called her, castigated the "bandit leader" Alassane Ouattara and the "devil" Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president at the time.
Today, her anti-French speeches have been publicly muted, but she maintains an anti-imperialist stance.
She does not hesitate to "pray" that the Sahelian juntas hostile to the West succeed in their sovereignist enterprise, without however wanting to turn her back on the current partners of the Ivory Coast.
The program of the woman who defines herself as "a woman of the left" aims to revalue technical education and the processing of raw materials locally, but also national reconciliation, which she considers unfinished.
During the campaign, she obtained significant support from Charles Blé Goudé.
"Simone Gbagbo represents resilience and hope. She hit rock bottom and was able to rise again. Simone advocates forgiveness, which is what our country needs. Her leadership is inspiring," the former leader of the pro-Gbagbo Young Patriots, who has always remained loyal to her, told AFP.
Will she be able to bring Alassane Ouattara to a second round on Saturday? Few observers believe it will, as the Ivorian left is advancing more divided than ever.
Another former companion, Ahoua Don Mello, with a program almost identical to that of the candidate, is also on the starting line.
"She leads a modest political party; she doesn't have the support of the entire left," points out political analyst Geoffroy Kouao.
"The main handicap to his candidacy is that apart from Blé Goudé, no other left-wing figure, and first and foremost Laurent Gbagbo, has given him any support," confirms William Assanvo, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
Commentaires (6)
Président Gbagbo, je pense ira en public d'ici Dimanche au-delà des réticences de ses émotions personnelles et suivra la logique que l'histoire. Le soutien de Gbagbo devait être automatique, il n'y a pas une analyse à faire ou des considérations à prendre en compte.
Je ne suis pas d'accord bro. Cette dame a fait faire à Gbagbo les pires betises de sa vie de président. C'est pas pour rien que ce dernier lui a tourné le dos de manière radicale. d'ailleurs, elle ne devrait plus utiliser le nom Gbagbo vu qu'ils ont divorcé. Elle en fait un fond de commerce, c'est ca qui est la vérité
Pourquoi continuer à l'appeler Simone Gbagbo, elle est divorcée et son nom est Ehivet.
La femme ne s'identifie à son mari ou ex mari.
Ouatara doit partir et laisser la place aux jeunes candidats comme Don Mello ou autre...il est vieux comme si la Cote d'Ivoire n'a pas une jeunesse capable de diriger le pays comme le Sénégal.
Depuis que j'ai vu Simone Gbagbo défendre le viol de femmes nordistes lors du conflit ivoirien, j'ai su qu'elle n'avait rien d'humain.
Wattara doit certes partir, mais Simone Gbagbo c'est le diable en personne.
Bien dit Abidjan.
Pour avoir vécu la-bas c'est bien elle la source des derives du mari.
gbagbo a fait plus de mal mais c'est simone qui est accusee a tort. ble goude en sait quelque chose raison pour laquelle il soutient simone et non gbagbo.
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