The Government of Côte d’Ivoire has rejected a ruling by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the lead-up to next month’s presidential election.
The court had ruled that the former prime minister Guillaume Soro should be allowed to run for the Ivorian presidency.
However, a spokesperson for the government, Sidi Tiémoko Touré, said Côte d’Ivoire will not accept the ruling.
He said Ivorian officials only recognise the decision by Côte d’Ivoire’s Constitutional Court, which declared Soro ineligible to stand in the election.
The country’s Constitutional Court has barred many candidates from contesting the upcoming elections, including the former president Laurent Gbagbo.
No external interference
The Constitutional Court barred Soro from standing in the elections on the grounds that he has a previous conviction.
However, the former prime minister protested the disqualification and filed a case at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
On Tuesday, the continental court cleared Soro to stand in the elections. However, Touré describes the decision as outside interference.
The West African nation withdrew from the ambit of the African court’s charter in April following disagreements.
Touré said the country trusts its institutions. He added that people must ‘‘avoid thinking that the way institutions function must come from outside”.
Mass protests
Some Ivorians have been protesting since President Alassane Ouattara declared his intention to seek a third term.
Forty out of 44 candidates, including Laurent Gbagbo, have been disqualified from the race, but the country’s highest court passed a ruling on Monday, earlier than expected, clearing Ouattara to contest.
Protestors swarmed the commercial capital, Abidjan, setting cars and commercial properties ablaze in mass demonstrations.
Reports suggest that roughly 15 people have died in violence since the president made his third-term bid official.
Outtara had announced that he would not seek re-election, but changed his mind after his anointed successor, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died in July.
E A Alanore
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