Acquitted by international justice, Charles Blé Goudé returned to Côte d'Ivoire

Mr. Blé Goudé, in a suit and tie, arrived at Abidjan airport on a commercial flight from Accra in neighboring Ghana.

He was greeted by a dozen people, including former First Lady Simone Gbagbo, before quickly entering a vehicle to leave the scene.

He is expected by his supporters in the afternoon in Yopougon, a popular commune of Abidjan, for a "party", "not a political meeting" insisted his entourage.

An important security device was deployed at the entrance to the arrivals hall and CRS filtered access to the airport, noted an AFP journalist.

Hours before he arrived, law enforcement chased away most of the journalists present at the airport and the scheduled press briefing was cancelled.

Alongside former President Laurent Gbagbo, Charles Blé Goudé was finally acquitted in March 2021 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague of alleged crimes during the post-election crisis of 2010-2011.

At the time, Alassane Ouattara's presidential victory, contested by Laurent Gbagbo, led to a crisis that left 3,000 dead and led to Mr. Gbagbo's arrest in April 2011.

Mr. Blé Goudé was arrested in 2013 in Ghana, then transferred to The Hague in 2014 after several months under house arrest in Abidjan.

A little over a year after his acquittal, he obtained a passport from the Ivorian authorities last May and then a green light from them to return.

- Political future? -

Aged 50, he is the last major figure in the Gbagbo camp during the 2010-2011 crisis to return to Côte d'Ivoire, a year and a half after his former mentor.

But unlike the return of Mr. Gbagbo which gave rise to scenes of jubilation and clashes with the police in the streets of Abidjan, the arrival of Mr. Blé Goudé was more discreet.

His entourage had asked his supporters not to go to the airport.

"I recommend that the reunion be done in discipline and a spirit of unity," Blé Goudé told AFP on Thursday.

"Happy to have you back home, after such a long and painful parenthesis. Let's work to make your return a moment of reunion and unity," tweeted Pascal Affi N'Guessan, a former supporter of Laurent Gbagbo today. at the head of the Ivorian Popular Front (opposition) and who was also present at the airport on Saturday.

Charles Blé Goudé, who created his own political party, the Pan-African Congress for Justice and Equality of Peoples (Cojep), has not yet indicated what political role he intends to play in the future in Côte d'Ivoire.

"Don't be in a hurry. I'm going back to Côte d'Ivoire and I have a political party that will meet, and the resulting decisions will be implemented," he told RFI this week.

However, he did not join the Party of African Peoples - Côte d'Ivoire (PPA-CI), the formation launched by Laurent Gbagbo last year.

A 20-year prison sentence also still hangs over his head for facts related to the post-election crisis.

Sentenced in the same case, Laurent Gbagbo had obtained a presidential pardon in August.