{"id":93904,"date":"2025-09-13T07:42:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T07:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=93904"},"modified":"2025-09-13T07:42:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T07:42:38","slug":"ivory-coasts-iron-lady-from-hiding-in-a-bunker-to-presidential-hopeful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=93904","title":{"rendered":"Ivory Coast\u2019s \u2018iron lady\u2019 \u2013 from hiding in a bunker to presidential hopeful"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>6 Minute, 11 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Former Ivory Coast First Lady Simone Gbagbo has gone from hiding in a bunker in an attempt to avoid arrest to defiantly announcing she will run for president.<\/p>\n

In an extraordinary comeback, the controversial 76-year-old was this week surprisingly allowed to contest October\u2019s elections, calling on supporters to help \u201cbuild a new nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

For years, Gbagbo worked side-by-side with her ex-husband, Laurent, and was considered to be the power behind his throne.<\/p>\n

Now, with a criminal conviction and a divorce behind her, she takes centre stage as a presidential candidate in her own right.<\/p>\n

Gbagbo was Ivory Coast\u2019s first lady from 2000 to 2011 and was dubbed \u201cthe iron lady\u201d due to her reputation for toughness.<\/p>\n

While her supporters fondly called her \u201cmaman\u201d (French for \u201cmum\u201d), Gbagbo was feared within the party she set up with her husband, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the ministers respect me. And they often consider me above them,\u201d she told French magazine L\u2019Express during her husband\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

At rallies, Gbagbo often invoked her evangelist Christian faith, firing off spirited, eloquent speeches in support of her husband.<\/p>\n

Gbagbo met Laurent in 1973, at a time when both were powerful figures in Ivory Coast\u2019s trade union movement.<\/p>\n

Gbagbo had degrees in history and linguistics, and as a teacher, was a key member of various educators\u2019 unions.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s relationship was also built on the struggle against then-president F\u00e9lix Houphou\u00ebt-Boigny.<\/p>\n

The Gbagbos protested against Houphou\u00ebt-Boigny\u2019s autocracy, which lasted for 33 years, calling for multi-party democracy.<\/p>\n

\"Ivory
Simone Gbagbo gave passionate speeches in support of her husband \u2013 next month she herself will take centre stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a result of their activism, the pair were jailed several times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI engaged in political struggle against the former regime alongside men,\u201d Gbagbo recalled in her L\u2019Express interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent six months in prison, I was beaten, molested, and left for dead. After all those trials, it\u2019s logical that people don\u2019t mess with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1982, the pair co-founded the FPI. That same year, Laurent fled to France following harassment from Houphou\u00ebt-Boigny\u2019s security forces, and Gbagbo was left to raise the couple\u2019s twin daughters alone.<\/p>\n

After six years apart, Laurent returned, and the pair married in an intimate ceremony, with less than 10 guests present.<\/p>\n

The Gbagbos soon had further cause for celebration. In 1990, Houphou\u00ebt-Boigny finally caved in, allowing the first national elections in the Ivory Coast since independence three decades earlier.<\/p>\n

Laurent decided to run for president, with his wife a key figure in his campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaurent had the good-natured gab, Simone the uncompromising discourse,\u201d French newspaper Le Monde said of the Gbagbos\u2019 political partnership.<\/p>\n

In less flattering terms, Ivorian opposition newspaper Le Patriote wrote: \u201cLaurent Gbagbo \u2013 expansive, warm, and devious\u2026 his wife, Simone Ehivet-Gbagbo \u2013 enigmatic, cold, and secretive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an election marred by allegations of widespread rigging, Laurent lost the presidential race to Houphou\u00ebt-Boigny by a landslide.<\/p>\n

He did, however, win a seat in the National Assembly and five years later, his wife gained one too.<\/p>\n

Gbagbo campaigned for her husband once again when he ran for president in 2000. This time, he won, after all other opposition candidates had been excluded by the military leaders who had seized power.<\/p>\n

But, once a champion of democracy, the new president began adopting draconian measures to stifle political dissent. His backing of the concept of Ivoirit\u00e9, or Ivorieness, pushed soldiers in the north to take up arms, and the country was divided into two.<\/p>\n

It is thought his wife had huge influence over the security forces, who were used by the administration to silence opposition voices.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, presidential elections slated for 2005 were postponed six times, with Laurent stating that he needed to establish control of the entire country before holding elections, although he eventually agreed to them in 2010.<\/p>\n

In a surprise result, he lost to Alassane Ouattara \u2013 the Ivory Coast\u2019s current president \u2013 but refused to accept the result. This attempt to stay put sparked another devastating civil war in which more than 3,000 people died.<\/p>\n

After the vote, Gbagbo fiercely defended her husband\u2019s decision to stay on, dubbing Ouattara a \u201cbandit leader\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time for debates about the elections between Gbagbo and the \u2018bandit leader\u2019 is over,\u201d she said in an address to supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur president is firmly established in power, and he is working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, as pro-Ouattara forces backed by French troops advanced on the presidential residence, the couple took refuge in a bunker. <\/p>\n

They were arrested there and hauled off to a hotel in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast\u2019s main city, effectively ending the five-month conflict.<\/p>\n

\"Ivory
After they were captured, photos of the fallen Gbagbos circulated amongst Ivorians<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At her trial five years later, Gbagbo described her detention at the hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI myself arrived with my buttocks exposed, my nudity exposed. I was subjected to several attempted rapes in broad daylight, all in the presence of French soldiers who were filming,\u201d she told the court.<\/p>\n

Gbagbo was sentenced to 20 years for \u201cattempting to undermine the security of the state\u201d, disturbing public order and organising armed gangs during the civil war.<\/p>\n

However, just three years later, President Ouattara granted Gbagbo an amnesty in what he said was a move to foster reconciliation. This is why she was allowed to stand in next month\u2019s election, despite her conviction.<\/p>\n

The International Criminal Court (ICC) pursued separate charges against Gbagbo in 2012, also relating to the civil war, but they were later dropped.<\/p>\n

The ICC went after Laurent too \u2013 they charged him with crimes against humanity and he spent seven years in custody at The Hague.<\/p>\n

The couple have long maintained their innocence, rejecting all charges against them as politically motivated.<\/p>\n

Laurent was eventually acquitted by the ICC and returned home to Ivory Coast in 2021.<\/p>\n

But there would be no tear-jerking reunion with his wife \u2013 days after landing on Ivorian soil, the former president filed for divorce, having fostered a relationship with journalist Nady Bamba.<\/p>\n

Gbagbo hit back at her husband \u2013 through her lawyer, she accused Laurent of \u201cblatantand well-known adultery\u201d and \u201cabandonment of the marital home\u201d.<\/p>\n

Laurent Gbagbo\u2019s refusal to step down after the 2010 elections triggered a bloodbath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The former first lady has since been quietly and methodically rebuilding her political base, following her break from the FPI.<\/p>\n

She founded a new party, the leftist Movement of Capable Generations (MGC), and in her campaign for next month\u2019s election, pledges a \u201cmodernised\u201d and \u201cprosperous\u201d Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n

Gbagbo\u2019s candidacy is not only politically significant but symbolically powerful in a country where women remain largely underrepresented in national leadership.<\/p>\n

Only 30% of Ivorian parliamentarians are women, and few have held senior roles in government.<\/p>\n

Gbagbo\u2019s reputation for activism and democracy has been tainted, but she is still seen as one of the strongest challengers to Ouattara in next month\u2019s poll.<\/p>\n

A political veteran with powerful rhetoric, she looks set to gain the backing of her husband\u2019s supporters, after he was barred from running himself.<\/p>\n

But in this election, the spotlight will be firmly on Simone Gbagbo. And should she win the presidency, the \u201ciron lady\u201d would make history as Ivory Coast\u2019s first female president \u2013 yet another milestone in a turbulent, four-decade long political career.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"IvoryFormer Ivory Coast First Lady Simone Gbagbo has gone from hiding in a bunker in an attempt to avoid arrest to defiantly announcing she will run for president. In an extraordinary comeback, the controversial 76-year-old was this week surprisingly allowed to contest October\u2019s elections, calling on supporters to help \u201cbuild a new nation\u201d. For years, [\u2026]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,4322,10,9,8451],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-ivory-coast","category-politics","category-popular","category-simone-gbagbo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}