President Ouattara: Reconciliation and Security Key to Recovery in Côte d’Ivoire

After months of violence and dislocation in Côte d’Ivoire, reconciliation is a necessary step in the recovery process and a high priority for the new government, President Alassane Ouattara told a Washington audience at an event on Sept. 23 co-sponsored by NDI.

“In a society like that of Côte d’Ivoire, what the president says is important,” Ouattara said. “That’s why I’ve been really preaching reconciliation, unity, solidarity. I think this is taking hold. The process will be long, but we are determined and I believe we will get there.”

As part of that process, Ouattara said former President Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to step aside after losing last November’s presidential election, should stand trial for human rights abuses. The violence was sparked by the impasse. But he emphasized that Gbagbo needs to receive a fair trial from the International Criminal Court so Ivorians can have confidence in the result. Soldiers from both sides should similarly be held accountable for human rights violations.

“No one is above the law,” he said. “Justice should be the same for all.”

Ouattara also addressed the economy, emphasizing the need to get young people back to work, largely by boosting the agriculture sector in Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa grower. He also pointed to education reform as a big factor in bringing down unemployment.

But he singled out security in the country and across the region as a particularly high priority, and enumerated several concrete steps taken in the past four months to institutionalize security sector reform and heighten professionalism in the country's new military and security services.

“If you don’t have security then you will not have stability,” he said

The world affairs briefing was held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which co-sponsored the event with NDI, the Center for American Progress, the National Endowment for Democracy and Côte d’Ivoire Watch, a coalition of Washington-based civil society organizations.