Charles Blé Goudé
Encyclopedia
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
political leader, born at Guibéroua
Guibéroua
Guibéroua is a town and commune in Côte d'Ivoire. As of 2008 it had a population of 13,100.-References:*This article was initially created from the French Wikipedia....
, in the center west of the country.
Creator of the Young Patriots
Blé Goudé studied English at the University of Cocody (Cocody is a section of AbidjanAbidjan
Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
), where he began his political career leading strikes and violent demonstrations of the Student Federation of Cote d'Ivoire (FESCI), allied with the FPI during the 1990s. He succeeded Guillaume Soro
Guillaume Soro
Guillaume Kigbafori Soro has served as the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire since 4 April 2007...
as the Secretary General of FESCI from 1998 to 2000. He later founded the Coordination des jeunes patriotes in 2001, and the Congrès Panafricaine des Jeunes Patriotes
Congrès Panafricaine des Jeunes Patriotes
The Congrès Panafricain des Jeunes et des Patriotes , commonly known as Young Patriots, of Côte d'Ivoire is the name given to a youth movement supportive of the former President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo and his ruling Ivorian Popular Front party...
(COJEP) in the same year. He had completed a university degree in English by this time, and later began a masters degree in Conflict Resolution Studies from Manchester University. Having gotten news of the coup d'État on 19 September 2002, he left England for Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
, where he founded the Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national
Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national
The Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national commonly known as Young Patriots, of Côte d'Ivoire.- Organisation :A youth movement supportive of the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo and his ruling Ivorian Popular Front party...
, which he directed with Serge Kuyo, an organization which he described as a mouvement de combat.
Agitator-propagandist
He has since played an important role in Ivoirian politics as a supporter of the policies of Laurent GbagboLaurent Gbagbo
Laurent Koudou Gbagbo served as the fourth President of Côte d'Ivoire from 2000 until his arrest in April 2011. A historian by profession, he is also an amateur chemist and physicist....
. He has organized protests and demonstrations in support of the president and in protest against the rebellion in the north of Côte d'Ivoire. He has also lent support to the police, for example in helping break up protests backing the Kléber Peace Accords on 25 March 2004, which resulted in 120 dead and 20 missing. His organisation, which has become an armed militia, is infamous for violence and looting, but is seen as protected by the government.
2004: Civil war resumes
At the beginning of 2004, Blé Goudé called for the expulsion of French peacekeeping troopsUnited Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire
The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire is a peacekeeping mission whose objective is "to facilitate the implementation by the Ivorian parties of the peace agreement signed by them in January 2003"...
from Côte d'Ivoire, and during June he organized a sit-in outside the headquarters of the French 43e bataillon d'infanterie de marine in Port-Bouët in Abidjan.
Early in November 2004, after the peace agreement had effectively collapsed following the rebels' refusal to disarm, Gbagbo ordered airstrikes against the rebels. During one of these airstrikes in Bouaké, French soldiers were hit and nine of them were killed; the Ivorian government has said it was a mistake, but the French have claimed it was deliberate. They responded by destroying most Ivoirian military aircraft, and violent retaliatory riots against the French broke out in Abidjan.
During the week from 31 October to 5 November 2004, Blé Goudé and his supporters intensified their recruitment and training of armed supporters. On 6 November, amidst an upsurge of anti-Western propaganda from the government controlled Radio télévision ivoirienne and newspapers like Le Courrier d'Abidjan, the jeunes patriotes
Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national
The Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national commonly known as Young Patriots, of Côte d'Ivoire.- Organisation :A youth movement supportive of the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo and his ruling Ivorian Popular Front party...
came out into the streets, attacking targets they thought supported European interests, especially the French Military and civilians. Attempts by these nationalist groups to seize the airport and the city center failed. Charles Blé Goudé, claiming the French Military was attempting a coup against the Ivoirien government, urged his supporters to surround Abidjan airport, and to form a human chain around the residence of president Gbagbo, near the hôtel Ivoire. In the demonstrations that followed attacks on foreigners, Muslims, and on anyone perceived as not fully Ivorian (or fully supporting the government) culminated in a French led evacuation of western and middle eastern civilians from the country.
January 2006 events
January 16, 2006, the Young Patriots were involved in violent demonstrations against the UN, and in one incident, at least four were killed after an exchange of fire at a UN peacekeeper's camp. UN peacekeepers are allowed to shoot if they come under violent attack. The crisis began after UN mediators called for the National Assembly of Côte d'IvoireNational Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire
The National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire is Côte d'Ivoire's unicameral legislative body. Evolved from semi-representative bodies of the French Colonial period, the first National Assembly was constituted on 27 November 1960 with 70 elected member in accordance with the Constitution of 31 October...
to be dissolved and for Gbagbo's mandate to end.
During the days that followed, two thousand youths clashed with UN peacekeepers. The Young Patriots seized control of the offices of Cote d'Ivoire's state-owned television channel, RTI
Radiodiffusion Television Ivoirienne
Radiodiffusion-Télévision ivoirienne is the publicly owned radio and television authority of Côte d'Ivoire. It is financed through a combination of television and radio licences, advertisement, and taxes.-Radio:...
, and broadcast repeated messages to attack the UN base in Daloa
Daloa
Daloa is a town in Daloa Department of Côte d'Ivoire, lying west of Yamoussoukro in Haut-Sassandra Region. It has a population of over 100,000. The town is a regional capital and an important trading centre, particularly for cocoa...
, as well as French targets. They also reportedly ransacked a community radio station, Radio Tchrato-Daloa which had refused to let them in, as well as besieging a UN base and the French embassy for two days, until on 20 January, Ble Goude called for them to go home and "clean up the streets".
Ivorian peace process
Since 2006, despite president Gbagbo's support for reconciliation with former rebels, Blé Goudé has continued to play a leading role in nationalist politics. His public conflicts with other nationalists and members of Gbagbo's FPI, as well as continued attacks on opposition supporters by the jeunes patriotes, has kept him in the public eye.In May 2007, Blé Goudé accepted the government title of "Ivorian peace ambassador" and will travel around the country preaching reconciliation. Blé Goudé has said that he models himself on Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...
, Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis...
and Thomas Sankara
Thomas Sankara
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was a Burkinabé military captain, Marxist revolutionary, Pan-Africanist theorist, and President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987...
.
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In the two years of run-up to the often delayed United Nations supervised Presidential Election, Blé Goudé campaigned and organized for Laurent Gbagbo, both as head on te FPI youth wing, a close adviser of the first Lady Simone Gbagbo
Simone Gbagbo
Simone Ehivet Gbagbo is an Ivorian politician. She is the President of the Parliamentary Group of the Ivorian Popular Front and is a Vice-President of the FPI...
, and as head of CONJEP.
Second Ivorian Civil War and reports of death
Following the disputed 2010 Ivorian Presidential Election, Charles Blé Goudé entered the government of Laurent Gbagbo as Minister of Youth and Sport, although this government was not recognized by international authorities2010–2011 Ivorian crisis
The 2010–11 Ivorian crisis was a political crisis in Côte d'Ivoire which began after Laurent Gbagbo, the President of Côte d'Ivoire since 2000, was proclaimed the winner of the Ivorian election of 2010, the first election in the country in 10 years...
. While Blé Goudé remained under a 2006 United Nations sanction, Human Rights Watch reported that during the four months of Gabagbo's disputed second term, Blé Goudé's statements "that have appeared to lead directly to lethal attacks against many real and perceived Ouattara supporters." During this period, Blé Goudé was again active leading the Jeunes Patriotes militia, leading street demonstrations against UN and French forces in Abidjan, and calling for attacks on the internationally recognized President, Alassane Ouattara, headquartered in the Golf hotel compound in Abidjan. As forces loyal to Ouattara advanced on the city in March 2011, Blé Goudé led recruitment of militia members into the pro-Gbagbo armed forces. Following Gbabgbo's capture on 11 April, pro-Ouattara forces announced they had captured Blé Goudé. President Ouattara's spokesman, Patrick Achi
Patrick Achi
Patrick Achi is an Ivorian politician. A member of the Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire, he studied at the University of Paris and Stanford University and specialises in engineering and infrastructure....
, on 14 April, denied his forces had arrested Blé Goudé or knew his whereabouts. On 15 April, Alain Toussaint, a prominent Gbgabo counsel in Paris, declared that Blé Goudé had been captured and killed in Abidjan. At the same time, Semi Bi, Blé Goudé's aide in Abidjan, reported that he did not know if Blé Goudé had been arrested or his whereabouts.
Quotes
- France will come to know a Second Algerian War.
Le Courrier d'Abidjan, 23 April 2004 ;
- « I don't want to see Le Patriote, Le Libéral and the papers of the RDRRally of the RepublicansThe Rally of the Republicans is a liberal party in Côte d'Ivoire. It is presently the country's governing party; the party's leader, Alassane Ouattara, is the current President of Côte d'Ivoire....
in newsstands beginning Monday. I will assume all the consequences. »
TF1, May 2004 ;
- On Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
: « I've gotten to the point today where I don't believe anymore that Hitler was bad, or that Milosevic is bad. Because these same sources that present Hitler and Milosevic as criminals, that tell me today that we Ivoiriens patriots who are suffering in the rebellion, who are torturers, they say that it's really the rebels who are our victims. » Le Patriote (Newspaper of the RDR), 12 May 2004 - On Kofi Annan "A shame for Africa" AFP - 23 April 2004
- On rebel leader Guillaume SoroGuillaume SoroGuillaume Kigbafori Soro has served as the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire since 4 April 2007...
: « Je me rends compte qu'il est proche de sa tombe. » Le Temps, 27 July 2004; - In response to the question :Quelles sont les sanctions que vous allez prendre contre les jeunes patriotes coupables de viols d'Européennes ?:
- Les jeunes patriotes ne sont pas coupables des viols ni des pillages subis par les Français. L'armée française a organisé les pillages en collaboration aves les prisonniers qui ont été libérés.
Forum du Nouvel-Observateur, 1 December 2004;
- On the UNUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
:- « Avec les casques bleus, c'est la guerre »
L'Intelligent d'Abidjan, 23 avril 2004 ;
-
- « Si les Casques bleus ne clarifient pas leur position, nous allons les chasser. On va leur faire connaître leur Algérie. »
L'Inter, 23 avril 2004 ;
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- « Nous, jeunes de Côte d'Ivoire, réunis ce jour-ci, demandons à tous les jeunes Ivoiriens partout où ils se trouvent d'offrir à l'ONU la plus grande révolte qu'elle n'a jamais connue.»
24 Heures, 11 May 2004 ;
- "Je vous appelle tous à aller libérer notre aéroport. Si vous dormez, réveillez-vous. Si vous mangez, déposez votre fourchette. Je ne vous demande pas d'aller attaquer les Français qui sont venus vivre avec vous. Beaucoup de Français ont défilé avec nous contre la rébellion. Venez libérer l'aéroport. Abidjan n'est pas un quartier de Paris".
Public statement, November 6, 2004