Laurent Gbagbo

"We have to be clear about one thing. Cote d’Ivoire, like many African countries, is not yet a democratic state. We are a democratizing state. We experienced thirty years of single-party regime from 1960 to 1990. We experienced ten years of fairly chaotic democratization, which culminated in ten months of military regime. These are the negative factors. On the positive side, we truly have a population that is thirsting for liberty, democratization and transparency. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the cabinet that I have assembled to carry on the democratization work and to complete the process. That’s our primary mission."

"I have been observing this fracture since when I was 15 years old, that is since our independence in 1960. At first, theAgnis [an ethnic group in the eastern part of the country] felt that they were excluded and marginalized. The Sanwis, a sub-group among the Agnis, wanted to secede at that time. Later, the Bétés [an ethnic group in the midwest] felt that they were excluded and marginalized (I am a Bété myself). Today, the people in the north feel that they are excluded and marginalized (they felt so before my election and still do today)."

"Even in the period of reconciliation, the Ivorian state is not in a negotiation with anyone. The state is asking the children of the nation to sit around the negotiation table and say, individually, what they feel is wrong in Cote d’Ivoire. The state, and only the state, will look for remedies to the problems that will be diagnosed."