Ivory Coast Seeks Arrest of Presidential Candidate Soro

Ivory Coast issued a warrant of arrest for presidential candidate Guillaume Soro, a one-time rebel leader and former speaker of the country’s parliament.

Soro, who founded a political movement after falling out with President Alassane Ouattara and resigned as speaker earlier this year, is being sought for “endangering state security and embezzlement of public funds,” an official in the presidency said in a text message Monday.

Soro, 47, was expected in Abidjan, the commercial capital, Monday afternoon but his private jet was rerouted to neighboring Ghana for “security reasons,” according to his political adviser, Alain Lobognon, who said he wasn’t aware of the arrest warrant.

“We regret that an Ivorian citizen was prevented from entering his own country and is currently in a neighboring country awaiting information on his final destination,” Lobognon told reporters. He said

Ivory Coast’s youngest and most media-savvy opposition figure, Soro has spent months meeting Ivorians in Europe to mobilize support for his political movement ahead of next year’s presidential election.

His rebel group controlled the north of the country for almost a decade and helped Ouattara to power in 2010 after former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat in elections. Several former rebel commanders now have key positions in the security forces.

While abroad, Soro also met with 85-year-old opposition leader Henri Konan Bedie, whose Democratic Party of Ivory Coast split with Ouattara’s ruling alliance last year. A possible coalition between Soro, Bedie and Gbagbo ahead of the 2020 poll could challenge Ouattara if the vote goes to a second round, according to analysts.

Ouattara initially said he’d step down after two terms but floated the idea of seeking re-election, something he says is legally possible because of a constitutional change made in 2016.