Ivory Coast Orders Arrest of Presidential Candidate Soro
Ivory Coast Seeks Arrest of Presidential Candidate Soro
Ivory Coast issued an arrest warrant for opposition presidential candidate Guillaume Soro on the threshold of an election year.
Soro, 47, is being sought for “endangering state security,” an official in the presidency said in a text message Monday. Public prosecutor Richard Adou said on state television Soro is being sought for embezzlement of public funds and money laundering.
“I’ve just learned that there’s an international warrant for my arrest,” Soro said in a post on his official Twitter account on Tuesday, calling violence against members of his party and civilians Monday “unacceptable.”
A former ally of President Alassane Ouattara, Soro has spent months meeting Ivorians in Europe to mobilize support for his political movement ahead of a presidential vote scheduled for Oct. 31. While abroad, Soro also met opposition leader Henri Konan Bedie, whose Democratic Party of Ivory Coast split with Ouattara’s ruling alliance last year. A possible coalition between Soro, Bedie and former President Laurent Gbagbo could challenge Ouattara if the vote goes to a second round, according to analysts.
Soro had been scheduled to arrive back in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, on Monday, but his private jet was rerouted to neighboring Ghana for “security reasons,” according to his political adviser, Alain Lobognon.
“We regret that an Ivorian citizen was prevented from entering his own country and is currently in a neighboring country awaiting information on his final destination,” Lobognon told reporters.
The plane landed at Tenerife in the Canary Islands on Monday evening, after Soro and his staff were prevented from leaving the airport in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, Soro said in a tweet.
A former rebel leader, Soro controlled the north of the country for almost a decade and helped Ouattara to power in 2010 after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat in an election that year. Several former rebel commanders now have key positions in the security forces.
Ouattara initially said he’d step down after two terms, but has suggested he may seek re-election. Soro formed his political movement after falling out with Ouattara and resigned as speaker earlier this year.
To contact the reporters on this story: Katarina Hoije in Abidjan at khoije@bloomberg.net;Baudelaire Mieu in Abidjan at bmieu@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, John Viljoen
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