Côte d’Ivoire withdraws from African Court on Human and People’s Rights
In a further rebuff to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, after Benin’s partial withdrawal, Côte d’Ivoire has decided to also withdraw its recognition. It is highly likely that this decision is linked to a court judgment in favor of an opponent of the Ivorian government.
The court was created under Article 1 of the associated Protocol of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) which allows a citizen or organization direct access to the court.
he AfCHPR is part of an African continental convention under the aegis of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), with headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The Guillaume Kigbafori Soro affair
On April 29, Ivorian government spokesperson, Sidi Touré, announced Côte d’Ivoire’s decision to withdraw its June 9, 2013, Declaration of Competence from the AfCHPR.
This decision follows a judgment by the court against Côte d’Ivoire and in favor of its opponent in the case, Guillaume Kigbafori Soro, a former member of the government who is now critical of his country.
Former prime minister Soro had complained to the AfCHPR about a 20-year prison sentence and a fine of 4.5 billion West African CFA francs (about $7.5 million US dollars) for “covering up the misuse of public funds” and “money laundering.”
This sentence also required him to pay 2 billion CFA francs (about $3.3 million USD) in damages to the Public Treasury of Côte d’Ivoire. He was also to suffer five years’ suspension of his civil rights and the confiscation of his house. The Yamoussoukro (capital city) judiciary also issued an international arrest warrant against Kigbafori, who currently lives in France.
On April 22, the AfCHPR ordered the state defendant to suspend the arrest warrant it had issued against Soro. It also required Côte d’Ivoire to produce a report on the implementation of the provisional measures mandated in the verdict within 30 days of the date it was received.
Since the announcement of Côte d’Ivoire’s withdrawal from the AfCHPR Protocol, human rights defense organizations have issued a stream of press releases and statements of protest against this decision.
Some of them see in the refusal of the authorities to comply with the AfCHPR’s judgment a bid to stop Soro from standing in the presidential elections, set to take place in October 2020. The lawyers’ collective engaged with Soro’s defense published a message on Facebook on April 30, saying:
This withdrawal decision confirms, were it still necessary to do so, that the criminal conviction of 28 April 2020 returned by the Abidjan Lower Court against Monsieur Guillaume Kigbafori Soro, in violation of the AfCHPR’s decision of 22 April 2020, joins a series of political manoeuvres aimed at removing his candidature from the Presidential election, at the cost of a serious politicisation of the judiciary.
It seems the current Ivorian government is determined to put pressure on Guillaume Soro. Côte d’Ivoire journalist Djakaria Touré notes Soro’s younger brother, an American national, was arrested in the context of another case:djakaria Toure@2bd0b186acb2424
Côte d’Ivoire
: violation des droits humains.
SORO SIMON, prisonnier Politique et d’opinions, Incarcéré à la Prison civile d’Abengourou
Très malade, empêchement de ses médecins de lui fournir des soins.
le pouvoir l’utilise comme moyen de chantage sur son aîné Guillaume Soro.
1Twitter Ads info and privacySee djakaria Toure’s other Tweets
Côte d’Ivoire: human rights violation.
SORO SIMON, political prisoner and prisoner of conscience, incarcerated in the Civil Prison of Abengourou.
Very sick, and his doctors prevented from attending to him.
Regime using him to blackmail his elder brother Guillaume Soro.
The president of Côte d’Ivoire, Alhassane Ouattara, has announced that at the end of his current term, which expires on October 31, he will follow the constitution, which limits the number of terms to two, and will give way to the winning candidate.
Alarming setback to democracy
In a press release issued on May 1, the Ivorian Human Rights Observatory (OIDH) expressed grave concern at this withdrawal months away from the presidential elections:
