Tension cooling off between Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso
BY JIBRIL TURE
Lately, relations between Cote d’Ivoire and its neighbor up-north, Burkina Faso, have been stricken by tension stemming from a phone-leak scandal allegedly involving the speaker of the Ivorian parliament, Guillaume Soro. But the tension is expected to cool off soon, following an hour-long meetign between Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara and his Burkina Faso counterpart Roch Marc Christian Kaboré during the recently-held summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Just weeks before the presidential election that was supposed to end the year-long political transition that followed the ousting of former president Blaise Compaoré by a popular uprising in September 2014, thereby paving the way for Burkina Faso’s return to “normalcy,” presidential guards loyal to the former president carried out a coup that was quelled by the regular army, followed by sustained negotiations by President Yayi Boni of Benin and his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.
You may also want to read: Kabore’s election signals democratic strengthening in Africa
Then later surfaced recordings of conversations presumably between the speaker of Cote d’Ivoire’s parliament, Guillaume Soro, and Burkina Faso’s former Foreign Minister Djibril Bassolé allegedly plotting the coup. What was quickly dubbed the “Soro-Bassolé affair” caused relations between the two countries to significantly deteriorate.
Hower, following the a nearly hour-long meeting between President Alassane Ouattara and President Roch Marc Christian Kabore on January 29 during the summit meeting of the African Union held in the Ethiopian capital, the tension is expected to ease soon.
After their meeting, the two heads of state were all smile in reassuring the press, and through the latter the international community, of their commitment to working things out diplomatically. “We explored ways of of strengthening the friendship and fraternal relations between Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire,” stated President Kabore, adding: “It’s our duty to make sure our relations are strengthened.” President Ouattara concurred.
You may also want to read: Burkina Faso strongman ousted by popular revolt
Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso are bound by strong historical ties, if one recalls that the northern boundary of modern-day Cote d’Ivoire was not fixed until 1947 due the French colonial administration’s efforts to attach provinces of what was known as Upper Volta (today’s Burkina Faso) to modern-day Ivory Coast for economic and administrative reasons.
The speaker of the Ivorian parliament, President Guillaume Soro, is a key-architect of the political renewal in Cote d’Ivoire along with President Ouattara.
______________________________________________________
More stories about Cote d’Ivoire
-
The stage is set for a new presidential election in Cote d’Ivoire
-
Exclusive interview with President Gbagbo
____________________________________________________________