Ivory Coast opposition leaders meet in Daoukro

Former Ivory Coast presidents Laurent Gbagbo and Henri Konan Bedie met on Saturday to publicly oppose sitting-President Allasane Ouattara's third term, which the Ivorian opposition has deemed unconstitutional.

President Ouattara was re-elected for a third term at the end of last year following a tense election that was marred by clashes and an opposition boycott.

Saturday's meeting, held in Daoukro, a town situated in the east of Ivory Coast, marked the first time in a decade the two former leaders had met, and signaled a potential new chapter for Gbagbo, who returned to Ivory Coast last month two years after he was acquitted of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Taking on a reconciliatory tone, Gbagbo and Bedia both smiled and waved at the crowd, as supporters and party members danced and waved banners and other merchandise celebrating the leaders' meeting.

During a thirty-minute speech Gbagbo told the crowd that he would not remain silent on the issue of Ouattara's re-election for a third term.

"While Ivory Coast continues to burn, and (if) I say nothing, that will mean complicity on my part. So I have to say something. I have to say that I am in agreement with this battle against the third mandate", he said.

Gbagbo was extradited to the ICC The Hague in 2011, and spent eight years awaiting trial on war crimes charges related to the post-electoral violence that engulfed Ivory Coast after its 2010 presidential election.

A judge acquitted him in 2019, saying prosecutors had failed to prove their case.

The verdict was appealed but upheld in late March, clearing the way for Gbagbo to leave Belgium, where he had spent the past two years.