The contact that Alassane Ouattara renewed a few days ago with Guillaume Soro is clearly not to everyone's taste at the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, the ruling party, where some executives fear losing positions. and benefits, with the warming of relations between the head of state and his former Prime Minister.
Apparently, they were taken by surprise by what appears to be the beginning of the crisis of confidence between their mentor, Alassane Ouattara, and the former president of the National Assembly, Guillaume Soro. As a result, since the revelation of the telephone exchanges between the Head of State and his former Prime Minister, which foreshadow a warming of relations between the two personalities, they have not failed to display a certain circumspection.
And, it is clearly to these supporters of the former deputy director general of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), convinced from the start that the duel between the two personalities would end with a clean victory for the leader of the Rassemblement des houphouetistes pour la Democracy and Peace (Rhdp), and his humiliating surrender, which the president of Générations et Peuples Solidaires (GPS) responded via tweet: “it’s true. He and I spoke on the phone. This is not an April Fool. Next time it will be in Ivory Coast. The 2025 presidential election is not far away. We have to get active.”
Also read: Guillaume Soro on the 2025 presidential election: “The election is no longer far away, we must get active”
The minutes which followed this confirmation of the former President of the National Assembly, preceded by a clarification from his office, which had previously produced a press release which reframes the circumstances of the telephone exchanges, the enemies of the rapprochement between Alassane Ouattara and Guillaume Soro quickly took matters into their own hands in their various pharmacies.
ENEMIES OF PEACE IN AMBUSH
While some are trying hard to persuade public opinion that it was the former Prime Minister who called the Head of State to ''beg forgiveness'', genuflection in support, the others are strive to explain the need to distrust the former student leader, on the grounds that his repentance would not be sufficiently sincere. And yet, when in November 2023, Guillaume Soro announced, to everyone's surprise, that he was ending his exile, to return to his country, they took this communication from the former strongman of Bouaké as a threat to stability of the country, advising the candidate declared for the 2025 presidential election, to keep a low profile and contact the Head of State, to organize his return, if the desire to return home was real.
Is Mamadou Touré, the Minister of Youth Promotion and Civic Service, among the Rhdp executives who fear the return to the country of the former deputy for Ferké? “Yes, Guillaume Soro called, but let’s remain vigilant,” urged the deputy government spokesperson on April 11, 2024, from Vavoua.
AT THE MANEUVER
“Yes, Guillaume Soro did call President Ouattara. Yes, he called him to ask for forgiveness for all the wrong he did to him… If his appeal is sincere, we will judge him through his actions and those carried out by his supporters,” added the one who is also president of the Haut Sassandra Regional Council of which the town of Vavoua is a part. “One thing is sure and certain. The telephone calls which took place between my leader, Guillaume and President Alassane Ouattara did not please certain Rhdp executives.
The latter called on the activists of this party to be vigilant because they doubt the sincerity of Guillaume Soro in the process of political relaxation initiated between him and Alassane Ouattara”, believes El hadj Mamadou Traoré, member of the Orientation Commission and of coordination (COC) of GPS. Then, Guillaume Soro's advisor, put forward his arguments, particularly in light of the statement made last Thursday by Mamadou Touré, deputy spokesperson for the Rhdp.
“In truth, these Rhdp executives, who helped to sour relations between Guillaume Soro and Alassane Ouattara, have no interest in making peace with the brave. They are afraid of the warming of relations between them. Guillaume Soro in the country, this will help to extinguish their star and show the Ivorians their true political weight. They know that Guillaume Soro in the country, they will be forgotten. Their mentor will discover that they are useless to him. They fear a return of sympathy from their mentor towards Guillaume Soro.
To avoid such a scenario, we must expect that in the coming weeks, fake news will be created about Guillaume Soro in order to undermine the warming of his relations with Alassane Ouattara. Guillaume Soro in the country is the political death of these Rhdp executives. They will ensure that distrust develops between Alassane Ouattara and Guillaume Soro so that the latter's return to the country is compromised,” analyzes the GPS framework.
ATMOSPHERE OF PERSISTENT DISTRUST
“I therefore ask Ivorians to be vigilant and not to let themselves be poisoned by all the negative information that will be created to tarnish the image of Guillaume Soro. (They) are maneuvering to try to compromise the process of political relaxation. Yesterday, some of them, who are no longer in this world, played a detrimental role in the relations between Alassane Ouattara and Guillaume Soro. They were at the root of the crisis between them. Today, certain executives, who are aiming for the presidential chair or who are the latter's “roperos” (henchmen, editor's note), will be active in creating intoxication maneuvers against Guillaume Soro.
They will send messages accusing Guillaume Soro of planning action to destabilize the country, or they will attribute comments to Guillaume Soro that would make Alassane Ouattara angry. This is their method of poisoning relations between these two leaders,” adds Mamadou Traoré, convinced that these new maneuvers are part of the battle for the 2025 presidential election to which the former President of the National Assembly has already joined. and already declared a candidate.
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“This is their method to compromise the candidacy of Guillaume Soro in the 2025 presidential election. To do this, they will try to compromise the ongoing reconciliation between Alassane Ouattara and Guillaume Soro. So let's be vigilant,” insists the writer and ex-political detainee, in a post on his Facebook account this Saturday. Doesn't Guillaume Soro's ambition to run for the highest office in the 2025 presidential election and the determination of several Rhdp executives to block his path risk ruining this beginning of reconciliation?
New Generations
Ouattara-Soro telephone conversations: “This is a significant step towards reconciliation” (Italy GPS Framework)