Para saber um pouco mais de Laurent Gbagbo

Africa Committee in Ivory Coast
In November 1994, the SI Africa Committee met in Abidjan, capital of Ivory Coast, at the invitation of our member party, the Ivory Coast Popular Front, FPI, and its Leader, Laurent Gbagbo.
At our meeting in Abidjan, which was well attended by representatives of SI member parties and by guests from all parts of Africa, we continued to focus on the democratisation process and the role of social democracy in Africa, and considered recent economic developments and the question of African integration. Also on the agenda were crucial questions of conflict resolution and humanitarian action. In a resolution on African integration, the SI Africa Committee stressed that regional cooperation and integration were vital if the African continent was to play its due role in international trade and the global economy.
The Committee heard how in Ivory Coast, as in some other African countries, democratic transition was not complete. Gbagbo stressed the other reforms which needed to accompany the holding of multi-party elections: the adoption of a modern and unbiased electoral code, freedom of action and expression for opposition parties, and for the media. Presidential and parliamentary elections were scheduled to take place in Ivory Coast a year later, and these, unfortunately, confirmed the concerns voiced at our meeting. The opposition parties withdrew from the presidential poll of October 1995, citing the unfair electoral code and subsequent irregularities in the voting process. They later took part in the parliamentary vote, but voting was suspended, to the extreme concern of our International, in the constituencies of Gbagbo and of some other opposition figures. The Socialist International has given its fullest support to the FPI and other parties working under such conditions. We believe that the solidarity manifested by events such as our meeting in Abidjan will help to foster greater democracy.
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The French Socialist Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, official representative of the French Socialist Party, and Jack Lang had recently visited the Ivory Coast where presidential elections will be held on October 31. The party is thus related to the current Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, a member of the International Socialist deemed “beyond the pale” since 2004.
French Socialists succeed in Ivory Coast on the eve of presidential elections on October 31. The ball opened by MP Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, national secretary of the French Socialist Party in charge of international relations, has continued with the former Culture Minister Jack Lang. The latter has openly supported President Laurent Gbagbo in the country. Jack Lang was present last Sunday at Bouaflé in central Côte d’Ivoire, during a meeting of the Ivorian Socialist candidate. In a speech, he paid glowing tribute to the man he considers “the candidate of loyalty” and wished “Laurent Gbagbo was elected president.”
Laurent Gbagbo encouraged by the French Socialist Party
More neutral, Jean-Christophe Cambadelis tried to echo the official position of his party. However, this visit marks a watershed in the history of recent relations between the PS and Laurent Gbagbo. The current Ivorian president had been deemed “beyond the pale” by Francois Hollande, then Secretary General of the party, since the events of November 2004. During his visit to Côte d’Ivoire, Mr. Cambadélis, who met the main candidates for president in Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo said that was “seeing as all candidates running.”
While officially, the party does not endorse any candidate, the position of PS remains unclear. Jean-Christophe Cambadelis was accompanied by the Socialist deputy Jean-Marie Le Guen. He had accompanied Jack Lang during his controversial trip, along with Laurent Gbagbo, on Princess Street in the popular district of Yopougon, in 2008. And return to Côte d’Ivoire, International Relations of the PS was full of praise to Laurent Gbagbo on his blog. “I see that Laurent Gbagbo, who received me, a successful peace. We must turn the page and work in partnership with these countries concerned about their sovereignty. I would return after the elections as a friend. ” A statement that approximates partisan remarks by Jack Lang. “Thanks to the work you are doing, dear friend, Côte d’Ivoire, today, is presented as a model, as an example for the whole of Africa,” he said Sunday.
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No Verão de 1993, Laurent Gbagbo esteve no Porto, no Festival da Internacional Socialista, quando o presidente da Câmara Municipal de Gondomar era o seu “grande amigo” Aníbal Jaime Gomes Lira, pelo qual perguntou a enviados da Lusa e da SIC que o visitaram em Fevereiro de 1994, em Abidjan.