Full text of the statement by Mrs Danièle Boni-Claverie, President of the URD, reported in the press from 17 September 2026. The judicial facts mentioned are the subject of ongoing proceedings: anyone implicated is presumed innocent. Unofficial English translation. The French original is the authoritative text.
The arrest of the 4th Vice-President of the PPA-CI: enough is enough!
We learned with dismay, but without real surprise, of the arrest of Mr Koné Katinan, 4th Vice-President of the PPA-CI, on charges we consider unfounded. I remember appearing before the Assize Court on charges each more far-fetched than the last, only to be convicted of “disturbing public order”!
This arrest deepens our concern, as people attached to the rule of law, public freedoms, democracy, social cohesion and peace in our country. I speak today with gravity but also with restrained anger: the anger of a citizen, of a political leader and above all of an Ivorian woman who refuses the unacceptable.
Enough is enough! Systematic confrontation is taking the place of political debate. All dissenting or suspected voices are prosecuted, silenced instead of being heard, without respect for republican rules. Being in opposition is surely not a crime, and those who govern us today know something about that. Freedom of expression is not a privilege granted to those in power. And political competition must never become a pretext for intimidating or neutralising those who do not think like the authorities.
When a political leader is worried — and I extend this to society as a whole and to religious leaders in particular — it is the credibility of our institutions that is at stake, starting with our judicial system, which should be able to work in complete independence, free from any political pressure.
Those in power must take into account a reality that seems to escape them: Ivorians are tired. They are starting to speak and to murmur. They are tired of the whole political class and of permanent political tension. They are tired of seeing politics become a space where suspicion, threats and repression prevail over the dialogue that the heirs of Houphouët-Boigny should be able to favour. They are tired of being afraid, of being forced to keep quiet.
But the search for peace and the affirmation of political stability do not entitle those in power to believe they can do anything and make everyone accept anything. Respecting institutions does not mean that citizens must give up their right to question the actions of the authorities.
I say it frankly: those in power must hear the discontent that is rumbling and smouldering in the country. Illegal gold mining, a national disaster; an ever higher cost of living; rising prices of basic necessities; a cocoa price of 1,200 francs that is fuelling our farmers’ anger; inhumane evictions.
We do not want a Côte d’Ivoire that sinks back into political clashes, and when I say “we”, I mean the whole opposition. We reject violence, hatred and revenge, but we cannot resign ourselves to injustice.
Our struggle is democratic. It is republican. We are not asking for special treatment for Mr Koné Katinan; we are asking for justice to be done transparently and for no one to be deprived of their rights because of their opinions, commitments or political affiliation.
A country cannot be governed lastingly by force or by fear, but by trust. It is therefore time for the government to ease tensions, let people speak freely and favour dialogue over confrontation.
Danièle Boni-Claverie, President of the URD
