twitter.com/ThierryMariani/   Thierry Mariani,  French  Member of Parliament of the European Union, Commission of Foreign Affaris meets former Ivory Coast prime minister Guillaume Soro  Oct. 16, 2020  Brussels, BELGIUM. 

By Gary  Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Exiled Ivory Coast opposition leader Guillaume Soro met with members of the European Parliament in Brussels last week to discuss the situation in the west African nation ahead of a controversial presidential election on October 31. There have been multiple violent confrontations in Ivory Coast amid anger over President Alassane Ouattara’s decision to run for a third term many condemn as “illegal” and against the  nation’s constitution.  At least two people were killed in election-related violence around the city of Bongouanou since Friday, two weeks before presidential polls are due to be held.  Located  about 125 miles north of Abidjan, Bongouanou is  a stronghold of opposition candidate Pascal Affi N’Guessan.  A residence belonging to N’Guessan was burned down in his hometown of Bongouanou amid clashes in the area Saturday.   Soro met with Thierry Mariani  (France  Rassemblement national MEP), a member of Commission Of Foreign Affairs. 

“The complicit silence of the European Union in the face of the electoral farce to maintain Ouattara is a sign of contempt for Africans who have the right, like Europeans, to democracy!”

-Thierry Mariani   EU  MEP  France

Soro also met with Marie Arena (Belgium) Member of Parliament,  Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.   

“Met  SORO   President of the GPS, we discussed the worrying human rights situation in Côte d’Ivoire.”

-Marie Arena said via Twitter

Rencontre avec @SOROKGUILLAUME, Président du GPS, nous avons discuté de la situation préoccupante des droits humains en Côte d’Ivoire. pic.twitter.com/sqrl1smFv1

— Marie Arena (@Mariearenaps) October 16, 2020

Last month the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights  called on Abidjan officials to restore Soro to the electoral list of candidates for the upcoming presidential elections.  Soro, a former rebel leader who has also been barred from running in the October 31 election and lives in exile in France, insists he has a right to be a candidate.   In April, Soro, a high-profile  organizer of  “the resistance”  to President  Ouattara, was  sentenced to 20 years in jail on charges of embezzlement and money laundering.  An Ivory Coast court handed down the sentence to Soro which included a fine of seven million euros.  Soro was tried in absentia as he currently lives in Paris.  Soro  has steadfastly denied all of the  charges against him, saying the are “trumped up”  designed to keep him from participating in the country’s scheduled presidential elections. 

Incandescentes de la CI? Pourquoi l’UE, l’UA donnent un blanc-seing à @AOuattara_PRCI pour incendier la CI? Je salue le PM Affi N’guessan pour son courage et sa résilience. Son calvaire prendra fin. @PhPejo @BalmePatricia @Mariearenaps @ThierryMARIANI @pacteau https://t.co/Y9JMuTIqxd

— Guillaume K. Soro (@SOROKGUILLAUME) October 17, 2020