Presidential candidate diverts plane to Ghana, as Ivory Coast issues arrest warrant against him

An arrest warrant has been issued for a presidential candidate in Ivory Coast identified as Guillaume Soro, who aborted a planned return by diverting his flight to Ghana as security forces stormed his party headquarters in Abidjan.

State prosecutor Richard Adou told public television on Tuesday that an arrest warrant had been issued over Soro’s “attempt against the state authority”, claiming that intelligence services had evidence that showed a “plan was to be carried out by Soro soon”.

He said Soro, a former national assembly president, was also under investigation for alleged embezzlement of public funds and money laundering for amounts up to 1.5 billion CFA francs ($2.4 million).

According to reports, fifteen of Soro’s supporters, including Alain Lobognon, Soro’s right-hand man, were detained on Monday on different charges, the prosecutor said.

READ ALSO: Turkey, rights groups fault Saudi verdict on Khashoggi murder

Lobognon, a spokesman for Soro’s Generations and People in Solidarity (GPS) party, had earlier told reporters that the candidate’s plane had been diverted “against his will” to the Ghanian capital, Accra, preventing him from returning to “take part in the electoral process”.

Soro’s scheduled return to the Ivory Coast, after a six-month absence to be a candidate in next year’s ballot has raised tension in the West African country, whose 2010-2011 election ended in deadly violence between rival supporters.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now