Customary chiefs, 120, were invited to welcome Laurent Gbagbo on Thursday June 17, 2021 at the presidential pavilion at FHB airport in Abidjan, the AIP learned on the spot.

Under tents erected in the courtyard of the presidential pavilion, these customary chiefs and political leaders await the return to the country of the political leader whose plane will land at 16:26 GMT in Abidjan.

An itinerary was communicated on Wednesday June 16 by the committee in charge of the arrival of the former Ivorian Head of State, including the stage from the airport to Laurent Gbagbo’s campaign HQ in 2010.

According to the president of the protocol commission of the operational committee for the reception of the former president, Koné Boubakar, the procession of Gbagbo will leave the Félix Houphouët-Boigny airport, passing through the Akwaba crossroads in Port-Bouët to get to at the former Koumassi and at the Solibra bridge in Treichville at the former Headquarters of the Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) in Attoban Cocody.

Activists mobilized since the morning around the FHB airport were dispersed by the security forces with tear gas.

The President of the Republic, Alassane Ouattara, decided to give the presidential pavilion to welcome Laurent Gbagbo, Thursday, June 17, 2021. He also authorized that the organizing committee installs in the pavilion, tarpaulins for the customary chiefs who would like to come. at the reception, announced Monday, Dr Assoa Adou, at the headquarters of his party in Abidjan Riviera.

Definitively acquitted on March 30, 2021 of all charges by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé expressed their desire to return to their country. For 10 years, they were tried on several counts, including that of crimes against humanity. President Ouattara had announced that Mr. Gbagbo could return to Côte d’Ivoire whenever he wanted.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse