Categories: Africa

Leading Côte d’Ivoire Political Figure Held In Mali

Mohamed Sess Soukou widely known as Ben Souck.

 

 

A prominent Ivorian political figure who has been sentenced to a 20-year jail term in absentia has been detained in Mali’s capital Bamako, his party and a Malian security source said Wednesday.

Mohamed Sess Soukou, also known as Ben Souck, “was arrested in the streets of Bamako by four men in civilian clothes wearing balaclavas,” his GPS party said in a statement.

“Under armed threat, Mr. Sess was forced to get into a 4×4 with tinted windows and without licence plates. He has been missing since then,” it said.

The arrest happened on Tuesday, the statement said.

A Malian security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “Ben Souck was detained for investigation. I cannot say more for the time being. He is well and all his rights are being respected.”

A Malian judicial source said Côte d’Ivoire had filed an arrest warrant against him.

Sess is a former MP and mayor of the town of Dabou, near Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s economic hub.

He is a leader of the Generations and Peoples in Solidarity (GPS) party founded by former prime minister Guillaume Soro, who was once a close ally of Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara but fell out with him in early 2019 and went into exile.

In June, Soro was given a life sentence in absentia for fomenting “civil and military insurrection” when he tried to return home in December 2019.

Among the other defendants at the trial, Sess was given a 20-year term in absentia on a charge of endangering state security. The GPS party was ordered to be dissolved.

“We don’t know what they are accusing him of,” an ally of Sess said, adding that his supporters were hiring a lawyer.

Soro, 49, was a rebel leader whose forces controlled northern Côte d’Ivoire in the first decade of the century, during the turbulent presidency of Ouattara’s predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo.

It was Soro’s military help that tipped the situation in Ouattara’s favour when conflict erupted after Gbagbo refused to accept election defeat in October 2010 and was forced out of office.

Soro was rewarded with the appointment as Ouattara’s first prime minister, and then moved to the position of speaker of the National Assembly in 2012, a post he held until he and Ouattara fell out in 2019.

Nebianet Usaini

Disqus Comments Loading...
Share
Published by
Nebianet Usaini

Recent Posts

Public Debt Stock Rose To N97.34trn In Q4 2023, Says NBS

NBS said that Lagos State recorded the highest domestic debt of N1.05 trillion in Q4…

7 mins ago

Flights Disrupted As Protest Rocks Port Harcourt Airport

Channels Television reports that the situation disrupted flights within the airport for about two to…

20 mins ago

Katsina Govt. Trains 722 Co-Opted Agric Staff

This is to give farmers across the state, solutions to their lingering problem of low…

1 hour ago

Gov Eno Gives N1.5bn Interest-Free Loan, Launches Free Food Programme

This is as he also launched the free food voucher programme for the vulnerable and…

2 hours ago

Security Agencies After Firms Involved In Forex Racketeering, Says CBN

The CBN boss, however, stated that if findings later show some of the transactions can…

2 hours ago

Super Eagles Suffer 2-0 Defeat To Mali In International Friendly

It was not the very best of nights at the Stade de Marrakech for Nigeria's…

2 hours ago