Ousted I.Coast president Gbagbo plans to return home this month

Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo, who was forced from power after losing elections 10 years ago, has obtained a new passport and plans to return home this month, his lawyer said on Friday.

Gbagbo, who is in Brussels pending the outcome of proceedings against him at the International Criminal Court (ICC), "received two passports today, an ordinary one and a diplomatic one," his attorney Habiba Toure said in a statement.

"He plans to return to Ivory Coast in the month of December," she said.

Gbagbo has asked Assoa Adou, the secretary general of his party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), to "approach the appropriate authorities in order to organise his return in tranquility," Toure said.

Ivory Coast. By (AFP)

Gbagbo, 75, was arrested and brought before the ICC in 2011 to face charges of crimes against humanity arising from a civil war sparked by his refusal to accept electoral defeat.

He was acquitted in January 2019 but is awaiting the outcome of an appeal.

Gbagbo was forced out by his rival, Alassane Ouattara, after a conflict that claimed some 3,000 lives.

Ouattara went on to serve as elected president and won a disputed third term at the ballot box on October 31.

At least 85 people have been killed and nearly 500 injured in election-related violence since August.

Gbagbo's long-rumoured return has sparked speculation about its impact on the fraught political climate in Ivory Coast, where he still has many supporters.

The opposition says Ouattara, 78, breached the constitution by seeking a third term and has mounted a campaign of "civil disobedience" aimed at pushing him out.

Ease tensions?

Despite their past enmity, Ouattara has several times in recent months said he favoured his rival's return, apparently seeing in it a potential for easing the public mood.

According to a source within the presidency, Ouattara was appreciative that Gbagbo, from his position abroad, had not joined the call for civil disobedience.

Scores have died in election-related violence since August, when Ouattara announced he would seek a third term. By Issouf SANOGO (AFP)

In addition, Gbagbo opposed participation by his party in a rival government, the "National Transition Council," that the opposition set up after the election, the source said.

That announcement led to the arrest of several opposition figures, including former prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan.

The government announced on November 25 that it was prepared to issue him with a new passport.

Gbagbo said he "hailed" the new passport as an "act which... encourages easing of strains" and called on the government "to take a further step" in this regard.

Political analyst Sylvain N'Guessan said, "The return of Laurent Gbagbo, who has virtually the image of a 'martyr' after spending years in a ICC prison, is a way for... Ouattara's government to ease the tense socio-political climate, now that he has been re-elected."

Ouattara announced earlier this year he would step down after two terms in office, but changed his mind after his preferred successor suddenly died of a heart attack. By Ludovic MARIN (AFP)

Gbagbo "is coming home with an 'aura', which will galvanise his political family and should energise the opposition," he said.

Gbagbo was barred by Ivory Coast's top court from contesting the October 31 elections on the grounds that he had been sentenced to 20 years in absentia over the looting of the Central Bank of West African States during the 2010-11 crisis.

"There are bound to be talks about this" on his return, a source close to Ouattara said, explaining that only "a pardon or a presidential amnesty" would lift the conviction.