Two former foes, President of Cote d’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara and former President Laurent Gbagbo, met earlier today for the first time in 10 years.
The meeting took place in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Cote d’Ivoire.
Gbagbo recently returned to Cote d’Ivoire after spending 10 years in exile standing trial.
Mr Gbagbo last week met with former President of Cote d’Ivoire, Aimé Henri Konan Bédié.
Cote d’Ivoire plunged into civil war in 2010 after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Mr Ouattara.
An estimated 3,000 died during the Civil War.
Addressing the press after the Tuesday’s meeting between Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara, Spokesman of former President Gbagbo, Justin Katinan Kone, asked Ivorens “not to make too much” of the meeting.
According to him, “This is a courtesy visit to his elder… If it helps to ease the political atmosphere, so much the better.”
.Spokesman of the Ivoren Government, Amadou Coulibaly, informed the press that dialogue in Ivory Coast “will continue, because that is the government’s will”.
Mixed reactions
There have been mixed reactions from citizens in Abidjan.
While some think the meeting was in the right direction, others feel politicians cannot be trusted.
For some, those who lost their lives while fighting either Mr. Ouattara or Mr Gbagbo did so in vein, considering that the two leaders are making efforts to reunite themselves.
By Melvin Tarlue, Abidjan