“Iron Lady” is removed in the presidency

The First Lady of the Ivory Bone coast Simone Gbagbo went from hiding to the bunker, trying to avoid arrest to call the statement that she would run for president.

As a result of the extraordinary return, the contradictory 76-year-old man this week was surprisingly allowed to challenge the elections in October, urging fans to help “build a new nation”.

For many years, Gbagbo worked near his ex -husband Laurent, and was considered a power behind his throne.

Now, with the criminal conviction and divorce behind it, it occupies the central stage as a presidential candidate.

Gbagbo was the first Lady Cote -Dioire from 2000 to 2011 and was named “Iron Lady” from the reality reputation.

While her fans lovingly called her “Maman” (French for “Mom”), Gbagbo was afraid in the party she created with her husband, the popular IVORIAN (FPI) front.

“All ministers respect me. And they often consider me over them,” she said French L’E during her husband’s presidency.

At the Gbagba rally, he often addressed his evangelical Christian faith, shooting from living, eloquent speeches in support of her husband.

Gbagbo met with Laurent in 1973, at a time when both were powerful figures in the union bone.

Gbagbo had a degree of history and linguistics, and as a teacher was a key member of trade unions of different educators.

The couple’s relationships were also built in the fight against President Felix Hofuhuet-Bonya.

Gbagbas protested against Hafui-Bonya’s autocracy, which lasted 33 years, calling for multi-party democracy.

As a result of their activity, the couple was in prison several times.

“I participated in the political struggle with the former regime,” Gbagbo reminded in his interview with L’Export.

“I spent six months in prison, they were beaten, mocked, left dead. After all these trials, it

In 1982, the pair focused FPI. In the same year, Laurent fled to France after persecution by the Houphouët-Boy Security and Gbagbo remained to gather the couple’s daughter.

After six years from each other, Laurent returned, and the couple married at an intimate ceremony, with less than 10 guests.

Soon Gbagbos received even more reasons for the celebration. In 1990, Houphouët-Bow finally made a speech that allowed the first national election element since Independence.

Laurent decided to run for the president, his wife a key figure in his campaign.

“Laurent had a friendly GAB, Simon’s uncompromising discourse,” said the French Le Monde newspaper about the political partnership.

With less flattering conditions, the IVORIAN’s opposition newspaper wrote: “Laurent Gbagbo is expansive, warm and cunning … His wife Simon Echvet -Gbagba – mysterious, cold and secret.”

In the election, marred by the allegations of broad falsification, Laurent lost the presidential race in Hafui-Bonya with the help of landslides.

However, he won the place in the National Assembly, and five years later his wife also received it.

Gbagbo campaigned for his husband when he ran with the president in 2000. This time he won after all other opposition candidates were expelled by military leaders who seized power.

But, once the Democracy Champion, the new president began to take draconian measures to plan political dissenters. His support for the concept of Ivoire, or Ivarium, pushed the soldiers in the north to take weapons, and the country was divided into two.

His wife is believed to have a huge impact on security forces, which the administration used for silence voice oppositions.

In addition, the presidential election, scheduled in 2005, was postponed six times, and Laurent said he needed to create control over the country before he could hold the election, although he eventually agreed with them in 2010.

As a result of the unexpected result, he lost to Alasan Watter – the current president Cote -Dioire – but refused to take the result. This attempt to remain caused by another devastating civil war in which more than 3,000 people were killed.

After the voting, Gbagbo severely defended her husband’s decision to stay further, dubbing the bandits leader.

“Time of discussions about the election between Gbagbo and the” bandits leader “is over,” she said in an address to the fans.

“Our president is firmly created in power and it works.”

In the end, when the pro-outatara forces, supported by French troops, advanced to the President’s residence, a couple found a refuge in the bunker. They were arrested there and pulled into the hotel in Abidjan, the main city of the ivory coast, effectively ending with a five -month conflict.

In his court, five years later, Gbagbo described his detention at the hotel.

“I came with the exposed buttocks myself, and the nakedness exposed. I was subjected to a few attempts to rape a wide daylight, and everything in the presence of French soldiers who were shooting,” she said in court.

Gbagbo was sentenced to 20 years for “trying to undermine state security”, violating public order and organizing armed gangs during the civil war.

However, only three years later, the Wattar president provided an amnesty Gbagbo in that he said he was a step towards reconciliation. That is why she was allowed to speak in the next month, despite her conviction.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) continued some accusations against Gbagba in 2012, also related to the civil war, but later refused.

The ICC also went after Laurent – they accused him of crimes against humanity, and he spent seven years in the Hague.

The couple have long supported their innocence, throwing all the allegations against them as politically motivated.

As a result, Laurent was justified by the ICC and returned home to the ivory coast in 2021.

But it wouldn’t be not a tears of reunion with his wife – a few days after the landing on the Ivarian land, the former president applied for divorce, raising relations with Nady Bamba journalist.

Gbagbo gave up on her husband – through her lawyer she accused Laurent of “brazen And the famous adultery “and” rejection of the wedding house “.

The former first lady has since calmly and methodically restored her political base, after a break from the IPP.

It has founded a new party, left -wing generations (MGC), and in its campaign next month promises “modernized” and “flowering” cat -dioire.

Gbagba’s candidacy is not only politically significant but symbolically powerful in a country where women remain largely in national leadership.

Only 30% of the Ivur parliamentarians are women, and few take role in the government.

The Gbagba reputation for activity and democracy was spoiled, but it is still regarded as one of the strongest candidates for the Watter in the next month’s poll.

A political veteran with a powerful rhetoric, she looks ready to receive support for her husband’s fans after being banned from running.

But in this election the focus will be firmly on Simon Gbagbo. And when she wins the presidency, the Iron Lady will make history as the first woman -president -ir -dioire -another milestone in a stormy, four decades of a long political career.

An additional report by Nicholas Negas in Abidjan