Simone Gbagbo

Simone Ehivet Gbagbo (born June 20 1949 [http://web.archive.org/web/20071219084634/www.anci.ci/Deputes/liste_depgp_fpi.asp List of FPI deputies] , National Assembly website (2007 archive page) fr icon.] ) is an Ivorian politician. She is the President of the Parliamentary Group of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and is a Vice-President of the FPI. As the wife of Laurent Gbagbo, the President of Côte d'Ivoire, she is also first lady.

Biography

Born in 1949 in the Moossou neighborhood of Grand-Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire, her parents are Jean Ehivet, a local police officer, and Marie Djaha. Gbagbo trained as an historian and earned a "3rd cycle Doctorate" in oral literature. She has worked in Applied Linguistics, as a Marxist labor union leader, and is an Evangelical Christian in a church with close ties to the United States. She is the mother of five daughters, the last two with her current husband Laurent Gbagbo. She has been nicknamed in the Ivorian press the "Hillary Clinton des tropiques." [ [http://www.soirinfo.com/article.php3?id_article=3238 Sur l'influence de Simone Ehivet Gbagbo] ]

Ehivet Gbagbo participated in the teachers strike movement of 1982, and helped found, with her future husband, the clandestine political group which became the FPI. An active trades union militant in the 1970s, she was imprisoned a number of times during the struggle for multiparty elections.

Following the introduction of multiparty elections, Gbagbo and her husband were arrested for allegedly inciting violence in February 1992 and spent six months in prison. In 1996, she became an FPI Deputy from Abobo (part of Abidjan) in the National Assembly; she and her husband were also seriously injured in a car accident around this time. [Cheikh Yerim Seck, [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN10126lavraobgabg0 "La vraie Simone Gbagbo"] , Jeuneafrique.com, December 10, 2006 fr icon.]

Re-elected to the National Assembly as an FPI Deputy from Abobo in the December 2000 parliamentary election, Gbagbo is also President of the FPI Parliamentary Group. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN23127simonobgabg0 "Simone Ehivet Gbagbo"] , Jeuneafrique.com, December 23, 2007 fr icon.] At the FPI's Third Extraordinary Congress, held from July 20 to July 22, 2001, [Tidiane Dioh, [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN31073lefpielliat0 "Le FPI en ordre de bataille"] , "Jeuneafrique.com", July 31, 2001 fr icon.] she was elected as the Second Vice-President of the FPI. [ [http://www.fpi.ci/membres_secretariat.htm List of members of the FPI Secretariat-General] , FPI website fr icon.]

Controversy

Simone Gbagbo is a controversial figure in Côte d'Ivoire. Involved in nationalist politics surrounding the Ivorian Civil War, in 2005 Radio France International reported that she was being investigated by the United Nations for human rights abuses, including organising death squads. [ [http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=52848 COTE D'IVOIRE: UN confirms existence of blacklist of human rights abusers] , 31 January 2005 (IRIN).]

The "Affaire Kieffer"

In July 2008 she was formally called for questioning by a French investigative judge, examining the April 2004 disappearance and presumed death in Abidjan of French-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_depeche.asp?art_cle=AFP01738affaiegujel0 Affaire Kieffer : Simone Gbagbo et un ministre convoqués chez le juge] . 8 July 2008 - AFP.] Mr. Kieffer was in Abidjan at the time, researching a story on political corruption and government involvement in the Ivorian Cocoa industry. He was last seen on the way to a meeting with Michel Legré, the brother-in-law of Simone Gbagbo. French judicial officials have arrested and are investigating Jean-Tony Oulaï, a former member of the Ivorian Secret Services, whom they detained in Paris in 2006. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN05026jeantniomtn0 Jean-Tony Oulaï : plus qu’un témoin] . 5 février 2006 - par CHRISTOPHE BOISBOUVIER, POUR J.A.I.] Jean-Tony Oulaï's driver at the time Berté Seydou, as well as Mr Kieffer's brother, have alleged that Ms. Gbagbo and former Ivorian Minister of Planning and Development Paul-Antoine Bohoun Bouabré have knowledge of the events Mr Kieffer's death, and that Oulaï is responsible. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN03096surlasruess0 Sur la piste des ravisseurs] - 3 septembre 2006 - par CHRISTOPHE BOISBOUVIER , Jeune Afrique. [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN24104lhommportti0 L'homme qui en savait trop] . 24 octobre 2004 - par CHRISTOPHE BOISBOUVIER , Jeune Afrique. [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN26015simonobgabg0 Simone Gbagbo] . 26 décembre 2004 - par CHEIKH YÉRIM SECK , Jeune Afrique. [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN27074inconreffei0 Incontrôlable affaire Kieffer] . 27 juin 2004 - par CHRISTOPHE BOISBOUVIER, Jeune Afrique. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080708/wl_africa_afp/franceicoastcanadacrimeprobe_080708201344;_ylt=Aj56XGEsjY5T3iiCOnFwPoWXsdEF Ivory Coast first lady to be questioned over missing Canadian journalist] . Matthieu Rabechault, AFP, Jul 8 2008. ] Legré was arrested in Abidjan in 2004 on suspicion of kidnapping and murder, but was provisionally released in 2005 and has since fled the country -- or is in an unknown location. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN16097oestmrgelle0 Où est Michel Legré ?] 16 septembre 2007, Jeune Afrique.]

2008 election

In September 2008, Gbagbo engaged in a two-week tour of the central part of the country, concluding the tour on September 14 in the city of Bouaké. She rallied support for her husband's candidacy in the 2008 presidential election during this tour and urged participation in the voter identification process. [ [http://apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article&id_article=75263 "Simone Gbagbo achève deux semaines de tournée dans le fief de l’ex-rébellion ivoirienne"] , African Press Agency, September 14, 2008 fr icon.]

References

* This article was first created from a translation of the French Wikipedia article , 2008-02-22.
* [http://www.lefaso.net/spip.php?article19678 "Paroles d?honneur"" : Ou quand Simone Gbagbo dénonce la collusion entre Alassane Ouattara, Blaise Compaoré et Jacques Chirac] . Jean-Pierre BEJOT, La Dépêche Diplomatique. 21 March 2007.
* [http://www.lexpress.fr/info/monde/dossier/cotedivoire/dossier.asp?ida=376354 Simone Gbagbo, Femme fatale] : Vincent Hugeux, L'Express 20 February2003.
* [http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/monde/310886.FR.php?rss=true&xtor=RSS-451 RETOUR SUR Affaire Kieffer : un témoin implique Simone Gbagbo] . THOMAS HOFNUNG, liberation 19 February 2008.
* [http://www.liberation.fr/transversales/portraits/255211.FR.php La dame d'ivoire] , Thomas HOFNUNG: Liberation, 22 May 2007.
* [http://www.cpj.org/attacks06/africa06/ivory06.html Committee to Protect Journalists Ivory Coast 2006] .
* [http://www.soirinfo.com/article.php3?id_article=3238 Régime FPI: L'influence de Simone Gbagbo] , Soir Info (Cote d'Ivoire), 12 December 2006.
* [http://www.fairreporters.org/?showcontent_home&global%5B_id%5D=881 Journalists sued after revealing Ivory Coast 'billionnaires list'] , fairreporters.org.
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45644-2005Jan28.html Ivory Coast First Lady Leads Death Squad, Report Alleges U.N. Panel Says Both Sides Are Committing War Crimes] . Colum Lynch Washington Post Staff Writer, January 29, 2005; Page A21 .

External links

* [http://www.simonegbagbo.ci/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=34 Simone Gbagbo et son livre]
* [http://www.simonegbagbo.ci/ Le site officiel de la Première Dame de Côte d'Ivoire]