Charles Blé Goudé

Charles Blé Goudé (seated, center) with supporters of the COJEP after their storming of RTI studios in Abidjan, 2006.

Charles Blé Goudé (1 February 1972) is an Ivorian political leader, born at Guibéroua, 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 Abidjan), where he began his political career leading strikes and peaceful demonstrations of the Student Federation of Cote d'Ivoire (FESCI), allied with the FPI during the 1990s. He succeeded Guillaume Soro 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 (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, where he founded the Alliance des jeunes patriotes pour le sursaut national, which he directed with Serge Kuyo, an organization which he described as a pressure group.

Nationalist resistance

He has since played an important role in Ivoirian politics as a supporter of the ideas and policies of Laurent Gbagbo. He has organized protests and peaceful 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. His organisation, which has become a non-violent militia, is infamous for organising peaceful demonstrations and protest, but is seen as protected by the government.

2004: Civil war resumes

Main article: Ivorian Civil War

At the beginning of 2004, Blé Goudé called for the expulsion of French peacekeeping troops 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 could have been a mistake and asked for an investigation to be carried out, 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 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 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 which were occupied by the French army 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 French living in Ivory Coast culminated and a French led evacuation of French civilians from the country.

January 2006 events

Main article: Congrès Panafricaine des Jeunes Patriotes

January 16, 2006, the Young Patriots were involved in peaceful demonstrations against the UN, and in one incident, at least four were killed after fire from the UN peacekeeper's camp. The crisis began after UN mediators called for the National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire 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 went to the offices of Cote d'Ivoire's state-owned television channel, RTI, and broadcast repeated messages to protest against the UN in Daloa, as well as French military. 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, Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara. h 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, and as head of COJEP.

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 authorities but was recongnized by the ivorian people (what any government needs the backing of his people not the international community) . While Blé Goudé remained under an undeserved 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 peacefull protest against many real and perceived Ouattara supporters." During this period, Blé Goudé was again active leading the Jeunes Patriotes Organisations, leading non-violent street demonstrations against UN and French forces in Abidjan, and calling for protest against 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 youth Ivorians 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, 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 RDR in newsstands beginning Monday. I will assume all the consequences. »

TF1, May 2004 ;

• On Adolf Hitler: « 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 Soro : « 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 UN :
  • « 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 ;

• • « 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

References

• (French)Translation of fr.Wikipedia article, 31 May 2007
• (French)Additions from fr.Wikipedia article Guerre civile de Côte d'Ivoire, 31 May 2007.
• BBC: Anti-French Ivorian protests Tuesday, 18 February 2003, 09:45 GMT.
• "During the war, where have you been, what did you do?" Charles Blé Goudé Opposition website
• (French) Interview avec Blé Goudé , président du CojepLes rebelles vont partir d'eux mêmes. Le Matin d'Abidjan, 14 January 2007
• Reporters Without Borders Dossier in its Predators series
• Colonial Tensions Reemerge in Ivory Coast, Washington Post Friday, November 19, 2004; Page A01
• Amnesty International Côte d'Ivoire : the militias urgently need disarming. 6 June 2005
• Human Rights Watch Côte d'Ivoire: Ivorian Government Must Rein in Militias. January 19, 2006
• Human Rights Watch Cote d’Ivoire: Militias Pose Threat to Civilians. May 3, 2005
• Côte d’Ivoire: Rein in Militias, End Incitement. November 11, 2004
• Côte d’Ivoire: Militias Commit Abuses With Impunity. November 27, 2003
• Ivorian patriot on peace mission African Press in Norway / African Press International 8 May 2007
• (French)UN Report on Human Rights Violations in Côte d'Ivoire since 2002, on Wikisource
• (French)LA CRISE IVOIRIENNE GROUPE DE RECHERCHE ET D'INFORMATION SUR LA PAIX ET LA SÉCURITÉ report on the Ivorian Civil War.
• (French)EVÈNEMENTS HEURE PAR HEURE: 1 November - 11 November, 2005
• (German) Sow, Adama: Ethnozentrismus als Katalysator bestehender Konflikte in Afrika südlich der Sahara, am Beispiel der Unruhen in Côte d`Ivoire : European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU).