Ivory Coast opposition leader arrested after disputed election

Fugitive Ivory Coast opposition leader Pascal Affi N’Guessan has been arrested north of Abidjan, officials and his party said Saturday, as prosecutors investigate President Alassane Ouattara’s rivals for rejecting his reelection.

Ouattara won by the October 31 ballot by a landslide, but Ivory Coast is caught in a political standoff since opposition leaders boycotted the vote and vowed to set up a rival government after accusing him of breaking with two-term presidential limits.

At least 40 people have been killed in clashes over Ouattara’s third term since August, reviving fears francophone West Africa’s top economy could slide into post-election violence like a decade ago when fighting killed 3,000.

“Affi N’Guessan was arrested during the night,” in the central-eastern town of Bongouanou, said Eddie Ane, a member of his Ivorian Popular Front party.

N’Guessan, 67, a former prime minister, was the opposition spokesman and a candidate himself in the presidential election.

Two government sources confirmed his arrest.

“Affi N’Guessan has been detained near the border with Ghana. He was on the run,” one government source said.

Security forces have blockaded the homes of several opposition chiefs in Abidjan and prosecutors have accused three of them of insurrection and terrorism over their election protest.

N’Guessan and opposition chief Henri Konan Bedie had called for a campaign of civil disobedience during the election. After rejecting the result, they said they would set up a transitional government as Ouattara’s mandate was over.

After days of tension, Abidjan and other Ivory Coast cities have returned to their usual activity and traffic, with no signs of opposition protests.

Diplomatic and government sources say talks are ongoing between the two sides to resolve the standoff, though little progress has been made so far.

In power since 2010, Ouattara had said that at the end of his second term he planned to make way for a new generation, bringing hopes for an end to the long feuds between ageing leaders that defined Ivorian politics for decades.

Supporters praised him for bringing economic growth and stability to the world’s top cocoa producer after years of unrest.

But the sudden death of his chosen successor in July prompted the former IMF economist to change his mind. He says a 2016 reform allows him to reset presidential term limits and run for a third time.

His bid angered opposition chiefs, stoking tensions over a possible post-election crisis like in 2010-2011 when then-president Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by Ouattara.

The country was already divided in two after a 2002 civil war — the north held by rebels and the south by Gbagbo’s forces.

Ouattara won a long-delayed 2010 election, but Gbagbo refused to step down despite international recognition for his rival’s victory.

French troops eventually intervened as Abidjan became a battleground and Ouattara loyalists were able to oust Gbagbo from his bunker. (AFP)