Burkina Faso: The Ivorian, President of the GPS party, Guillaume SORO, visits Captain Ibrahim TRAORE

The Ivorian Guillaume SORO landed in Ouagadougou from Niger on Tuesday 21 November, according to his communications department. His meeting with the President of the transition in Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim TRAORE, is taking place this afternoon and should be followed by lunch.

According to the Ivorian politician’s communications department, this meeting is important for Mr Guillaume Kigbafori SORO because of the special relations that exist between Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, two neighbouring and brotherly countries.

Mr SORO, who has been in exile for five years, has been in Niger, Côte d’Ivoire’s neighbour and brother country, since Saturday 11 November 2023.

The former prime minister of President Alassane Ouattara and former president of the Ivorian National Assembly has been forced into exile since 2019 due to political and judicial events.

In an interview on Radio France Internationale (RFI), Ivorian Minister of the Interior and Security Vagondo Diomandé said on Monday 20 November that his compatriot Guillaume Soro was free to return to his country as he wished.

However, he was unable to give a clear answer to the journalist’s question as to whether or not he would be arrested by the Ivorian justice system, which sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2020. All he could say was that this was a matter for the courts alone.

For his part, Mr Guillaume SORO wishes to return to his homeland, but he says that he is under threat of death in his own country, despite the call from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights to halt proceedings against him.

So when and how will this SORO episode in Côte d’Ivoire come to an end? Only the Ivorian authorities and judiciary can answer this question.

Cedric KABORE