The senior commander of the Ivorian gendarmerie, Major General Alexandre Apalo Touré, on Wednesday evening called on the people of Dabou (west of Abidjan) for “calm and restraint” following an inter-community conflict related to the October 31 presidential election in Cote d’Ivoire.
Major General Apalo went to Dabou, a city located about fifty kilometers west of Abidjan, “to call on all parties to restraint and calm” following the various skirmishes that have prevailed from Tuesday 20 to Wednesday, October 21 in the locality.
During his stay, Touré had various exchanges with the Malinke communities and the indigenous Adjoukrou.
After listening to the various parties, the senior officer invited these different communities “to calm and restraint” and urged them to restore the climate of peace and perfect living together known in Leboutou in particular.
He further invited them to show “wisdom and maturity” to avoid any conflict which consequences are disastrous for the entire nation, while asking them not to “rely on rumors intentionally distilled intentionally on social networks to incite the different communities to be wary of each other from now on.”
Touré “succeeded in bringing the different belligerents back to the dialogue table for productive exchanges, particularly in Dabou and Debrimou,” the statement added.
Clashes have been reported in several localities in the country following the opposition’s call for civil disobedience, calling on its supporters to “prevent” the electoral process from taking place, in order to get the government to discuss points of disagreement before the elections.
AP/ls/lb/abj/APA