APA-Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) Ivorian government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly has assured former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro that the country was open to his return should he wish to do so.
Amadou Coulibaly reiterated Interior Minister Diomandé Vagondo’s assertion after a cabinet meeting that Soro “can return whenever he wants”.
In his view, the Ivorian Minister of the Interior, General Diomande Vagondo, who managed the return of several exiles, was “right on the money.”
He added that “the head of state’s vision of peace meant that he provided the means for all those who had been on self-imposed exile to return”.
“You have followed everything here, the movements of all those who have returned to the country, all those who wanted to return have returned. Now, if someone refuses to return, that’s their responsibility, we can’t force anyone to come but the country remains open,” he said.
Soro, a former speaker of the National Assembly, was sentenced in 2020 to “life imprisonment” by a court in Abidjan after he and 19 of his relatives were charged with “attempting to undermine state authority, conspiracy, spreading false news and disturbing public order.”
Referring to this judicial matter, the Ivorian government spokesman said: “Now, as to whether legal decisions will be enforced (…) There is time for justice, there is time for negotiation and there is time for politics”.
According to Amadou Coulibaly, “justice takes its time, and in our system, it is justice that has the opportunity for action; it is justice that decides when to prosecute, when not to prosecute, when to execute a decision that it has itself freely taken.”
“I cannot predict what will happen (regarding Mr. Soro’s return at the present time); these are matters of justice that are dealt with by the judicial administration in our country,” said Mr. Amadou Coulibaly, in the full glare of news cameras.
He added: “In any case, all those who wanted to return have done so, and we see them in the country, sometimes even leading political meetings.”
Consequently, in the name of national reconciliation, Mr. Soro could return, he said.
Asked about the recent arrest of two people close to Guillaume Soro in Côte d’Ivoire, he replied that he had read about it linked to a meeting that should be reported to the authorities.
“I think we know our country’s democratic and transparent practices (…). However, these people wanted to go and lead a meeting, but we are in an organized country. And meetings are subject to information from the administration,” he went on to say.
“I announce, here and now, that I am ending my exile, as it is painful for me to live far from my ancestral and native land of Africa,” Guillaume Soro announced a week ago while staying in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
Soro has been in exile since 2019.
After his passport expired, he left Europe for Turkey, then the United Arab Emirates, before moving to far-flung Asia.
He is currently in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
AP/fss/as/APA