BY LOU SIFA

(Reporting by Awa Fofana)

New outbreaks of violence have been rocking Cote d’Ivoire for days, less than two weeks before the October 31 presidential election, amid the opposition’s threat to boycott the vote.

For a good part of a week, demonstrators in Cote d’Ivoire have been taking to the streets to once again state their opposition to President Ouattara’s candidacy that the opposition deems illegal. Last weekend, in the city of Bongouanou, the stronghold of opposition candidate and former Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan, clashes between President Ouattara’s followers and pro-opposition demonstrators resulted in two deaths, with several homes, shops and restaurants—reportedly including the former prime minister’s home—burned down. Today, just ten days before the election, images of several torched cars in the nation’s economic capital, Abidjan, signaled the persistence of the violence. Also today, students and unidentified individuals faced off on the campus of Cocody.

Meanwhile, Ouattara’s two opponents for the upcoming election, former president Henri Konan Bedie and former prime minister N’guessan, announced their plan to boycott the vote, on the ground that it will not be fair, nor transparent. They also called for the dissolution of the Constitutional Council and the Independent Electoral Commission, which, to them, are favorable to the outgoing president.

No doubt, the violence tarnishes the image of one of West Africa’s most important nations. The situation called for a visit by emissaries of the Economic Community of West African States who pleaded for order and respect for existing laws.

Côte d’Ivoire, the world leading producer of cocoa and the economic engine of the 8-nation West African Economic and Monetary Union, has for decades been the shining star in West Africa’s generally-cloudy economic sky, a magnet that has attracted citizens of almost all other African nations in search of a green pasture, as well as western investors. But this important nation of twenty-six million people has also been shaken to its roots by multiple outbreaks of deadly violence since the demise of its founding father, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, in 1994: the bogus, bloody election of Laurent Gbagbo in 2000 that sent hundreds of citizens to their death; the 2002 bloody rebellion which failed to overthrow Gbagbo but claimed hundreds of lives; and the post-election civil war of 2010-2011 that resulted in the loss of 3,000 lives. So, when President Ouattara recently decided to run for a third term, many in this heavily-divided nation that is still hurting from the all-too-fresh wounds fear the return of the old demons—as do foreign observers.

The risk of new violence appeared so high the who’s who in the Ivorian media released on 16 September a called for peace urging their fellow-citizens to ensure that “the 31 October presidential election take place in peace and without drama.” They were joined by influential members of the Ivorian civil society: university professors, business leaders, politicians across the political spectrum, as well as internationally-acclaimed figures such as Amara Essy who, as the country’s foreign affairs minister three decades ago, served as president of the United Nations Security Council in January 1990, and a decade later as secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U.) before serving briefly as interim chairman of the Commission of the African Union which replaced the O.A.U.

The signatories of the document—whose numbers are still growing—remind their fellow-citizens of the 3,000 lives lost during the post-election civil war ten years ago, then state that “the fight for political power should never turn into deadly brotherly violence.” Ivorians thought “they had been healed from the gall of hatred and political exclusion,” the country’s opinion leaders state, adding: “What we are seeing today, on the eve of the presidential election of 31 October 2020, is troubling: the hatred and rejection of others is back.”

The concern is justified in light of the violent demonstrations initiated by the opposition parties following President Ouattara’s announcement, on 6 August, that he will run for a third term. Protesters took to the streets in several cities across the nation to reject his plan. A press release by Ouattara’s own minister in charge of security and civil protection, Gen. Vagondo Diomandé, states that the violent demonstrations resulted in five deaths and 104 wounded, which includes 12 security forces and 92 civilians. The minister also says several public and commercial buildings, including a police station, the headquarters of the two main political parties, and private residences have been destroyed.