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Ex-Ivorian President Gbagbo reveals plans to set up new political party

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Prosecutors appeal ICC acquittal of ex-Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo

Former Cote D’Ivoire President, Laurent Gbagbo, has revealed plans to float a new political party following crisis and wrangling rocking his party, Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) which is suffering deep internal divisions.

Gbagbo who made the plans known at a meeting of FPI leaders on Monday, hit out at his former prime minister, Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who is the leader of one of the factions of the party, and proposed “creating a new instrument of struggle in line with our ideology and ambitions.”

The 68-year-old Affi N’Guessan, leads a so-called “legal” faction, a term that stems from the judicial authorities’ acknowledgement of his position as party president in 2015.

The other side is the faction, called “GOR” faction derived from the French words meaning “Gbagbo Or Nothing,” backed by grassroots members who fervently support the former president.

Gbagbo, who was in power from 2000-11, dramatically returned to Ivorian politics in June after being acquitted at the International Criminal Court in The Hague of crimes against humanity arising from post-election violence in 2010-2011.

READ ALSO: IVORY COAST: Ouattara’s third term bid boosted, as court bars former president Gbagbo from election

During his years in prison in The Hague, a deep rift developed in the FPI, which Gbagbo founded in 1982. 

Several attempts to bridge the rift following Gbagbo’s return have failed, and last week, the “legal” faction mounted a rearguard action after Gbagbo convened a top level meeting of the party leadership.

The faction claimed that Gbagbo, despite his status as a “founder member of the party”, was not the current president of the FPI.

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