Ivory Coast: opposition party denounces arrest of six militants

Six militants of the African People's Party Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), some senior party members, were arrested over the weekend, an event that has been fiercely denounced by the opposition party, led by ex-president Laurent Gbagbo.

These arrests come in the wake of violence in the Yopougon area in the night of 1 August: a bus belonging to the Abidjan Transport Company was set on fire, a police vehicle was damaged, and its occupants were assaulted by unidentified individuals.

The current location of the arrested militants is unknown. The government has maintained that no arrest in Ivory Coast is made arbitrarily.

Tiédé Gervais, Secretary General and Deputy Spokesperson of the PPA-CI, linked the arrests to the candidacy by Laurent Gbagbo for the upcoming presidential election in October of this year: “The six individuals who were arrested are comrades — senior party officials and other activists from Yopougon — who were very active in collecting sponsorships for President Laurent Gbagbo’s candidacy in the 2025 presidential election. That’s what links them all. The trap is so obvious, stitched with red thread, that even a two-year-old or three-year-old could quickly see it’s a setup.”

While current president Alassane Ouattara just declared he would renew his bid for the presidency in the elections - a move that would see him take on a fourth mandate if elected - opposition candidates have faced numerous challenges in recent months.

In June, four major opposition candidates, including Gbagbo, were barred from the electoral lists published by the electoral commission.

Tiédé Gervais said: “Mr. Ouattara picks the candidates he wants to face and sets up a sham election to carry out yet another electoral coup — just like he did in 2020 and in 2010 — to stay in power by violating every rule of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, starting with the Constitution.”

Many opposition candidates have also repeatedly called for electoral reform ahead of the vote, to no avail for now.