Prosecutors in Ivory Coast have charged eleven individuals, including prominent opposition members, with alleged terrorist offences linked to early August unrest. Authorities say the charges stem from an August 1 attack in an Abidjan suburb, where a bus was torched and a police car ambushed.
Prosecutor Oumar Braman Kone described “a horde of hooded individuals armed with machetes, clubs, firearms, and incendiary cocktails” in the assault. An investigation led to nine arrests, several from ex-president Laurent Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party – Cote d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), which firmly denies involvement.
During questioning, suspects named former defence minister Lida Kouassi Moise and retired ambassador Kone Boubakar as instigators, prompting their arrest over the weekend. Kone alleged the suspects sought to incite “terror” and instability after President Alassane Ouattara announced a controversial bid for a fourth term in October.
Charges include “terrorist acts, conspiracy against state authority, participation in an insurrection, wilful damage, and vehicle arson,” according to the prosecutor’s statement. The PPA-CI condemned the arrests as “intimidation and repression,” accusing authorities of political persecution ahead of the tense October 25 presidential election.
Kone rejected political motives, insisting the proceedings were rooted in criminal, not partisan, concerns amid growing national instability. The political atmosphere is fraught, with several opposition leaders barred from the race by court rulings, including Gbagbo himself.
On Saturday, thousands marched peacefully in Yopougon, the site of the alleged attacks, demanding Ouattara abandon his candidacy and reinstate banned opposition figures. As election day nears, the streets of Ivory Coast pulse with uncertainty, the tension woven into the nation’s fragile democratic fabric.
