Showdown I slutningen af 2010 indlogerer Ouattara sig med sin ”regering” på Golf Hotel, hvor direktøren har stillet sit kontor til rådighed for ham. Ouattara har selskab af 1.000 loyale mænd og kvinder, inklusiv hans kabinet, ministre og soldater. I compounden omkring hotellet er der en ring af 800 beskyttende soldater fra FN. Hotellet får i medierne tilnavnet ”République du Golf”. Gbagbo holder med sin ”regering” til i det officielle præsidentpalads, hvorfra han har udstationeret soldater til området omkring Golf-hotellet. De ligger parat til at overmande Ouattara i samme øjeblik, lejlighed byder sig. Ouattara er reelt spærret inde. Han appellerer til verdenssamfundet om at fjerne Gbagbo, med magt om nødvendigt. I første uge af april 2011 angriber Gbagbos styrker to gange FN-soldater, den ene gang ved Golf-hotellet, og det bliver gnisten til et slutspil som udvikler sig til det værste blodbad i landets historie. Op mod 3.000 bliver dræbt, halvanden million flygter fra hus og hjem. Kampen kulminerer den 11. april, hvor Soros og Ouattaras tropper med støtte fra franske soldater og FN-helikoptere når frem til præsidentpaladset i Abidjan. Her overmander de resterne af regeringshæren, trænger ned i bunkeren i kælderen og arresterer Gbagbo. Billederne af en ydmyget og bange Gbagbo i hvid ærmeløs undertrøje går verden rundt. Han køres til Golf-hotellet, hvor han bliver interneret. Hustruen Simone ryger i et arresthus i Abidjan. To dage senere holder Ouattara sin første pressekonference, mens hans soldater fester og plyndrer i flæng, og frivillige fra Røde Kors har travlt med at samle lig op i Abidjans gader. Ouattara udtaler, at Gbagbo ”vil blive behandlet med den værdighed, der tilkommer en tidligere præsident” og sender ham så i husarrest i Korhogo i det nordlige Elfenbenskysten, altså på Ouattaras hjemegn og uofficielt fjendeland for Gbagbo. Simone flyttes også nordpå, men til byen Odienné, hvor hun interneres. I november 2011 bliver Gbagbo udleveret til Den Internationale Straffedomstol i Haag, hvor han sættes i detentionscentret i Scheveningen. Han anklages for ”forbrydelser mod menneskeheden inklusive mord, voldtægt og forfølgelse” men nægter sig skyldig og kalder retsforfølgelsen for ensidig og ”sejrherrens justits”. Sagen starter i januar 2016 og varer til marts 2021, hvor Gbagbo for anden gang bliver frifundet, efter at en første frifindelse var blevet appelleret i januar 2019. I skrivende stund bor Gbagbo i Belgien og har af Ouattara fået grønt lys til at vende tilbage til Elfenbenskysten, hvor han med rivalens ord vil kunne “nyde de fordele og godtgørelser der er til rådighed for tidligere præsidenter". Ouattara nævnte ikke noget om, hvad der skal ske med den dom for røveri mod den vestafrikanske centralbank (BCEAO), som Gbagbo angiveligt begik sammen med tre andre, da han var præsident, og som en ivoriansk domstol dømte ham 20 års fængsel for i januar 2018 . I mellemtiden har Ouattara konsolideret sin magt i landet og har begået det, der kaldes et ”konstitutionelt statskup”, som er så udbredt i Afrika, og som jeg senere skal komme ind på. Efter at have siddet på præsidentposten i de forfatningsmæssige to perioder, meddeler han i juli 2020, at han vil stille op til en tredje periode, fordi hans premierminister Amadou Gon Coulibaly pludselig er død. Ouattara har udset Coulibaly til sin efterfølger, og uden ham vakler sikkerheden under præsidenten. Nu forklarer Ouattara med forfatningdomstolens hjælp, at hans første periode var afviklet under en tidligere grundlov og derfor ikke skal tælles med. Beslutningen udløser voldsomme demonstrationer over hele landet og et massivt boykot af præsidentvalget i oktober 2020, hvor valgdeltagelsen kommer ned på 54,90 %. Ouattara vinder med 95,31 % af de få stemmer og sidder altså stadig på præsidentposten. Han overvejer givetvis, hvad det skal udvikle sig til, hvis Gbagbo vender hjem. Ex-præsidenten er stadig populær i brede kredse i landet.

Showdown At the end of 2010, Ouattara stays with his "government" at the Golf Hotel, where the director has made his office available to him. Ouattara is accompanied by 1,000 loyal men and women, including his cabinet, ministers and soldiers. In the compound around the hotel there is a ring of 800 protective soldiers from the UN. The hotel is nicknamed "République du Golf" in the media. Gbagbo lives with his "government" in the official presidential palace, from where he has deployed soldiers to the area around the Golf Hotel. They are ready to overpower Ouattara at the very moment that opportunity presents itself. Ouattara is actually locked inside. He appeals to the world community to remove Gbagbo, by force if necessary. In the first week of April 2011, Gbagbo's forces attack UN soldiers twice, once at the Golf Hotel, and it becomes the spark of an endgame that develops into the worst massacre in the country's history. Up to 3,000 are killed, one and a half million flee from house and home. The battle culminates on April 11, when Soros and Ouattara's troops, with the support of French soldiers and UN helicopters, reach the Presidential Palace in Abidjan. Here they overpower the remnants of the government army, penetrate the bunker in the basement and arrest Gbagbo.The images of a humiliated and scared Gbagbo in a white sleeveless undershirt go around the world. He is driven to the Golf Hotel, where he is interned. His wife Simone smokes in a detention center in Abidjan. Two days later, Ouattara holds his first press conference, while his soldiers party and plunder in droves, and Red Cross volunteers are busy picking up corpses in the streets of Abidjan. Ouattara states that Gbagbo "will be treated with the dignity due to a former president" and then sends him under house arrest in Korhogo in the northern Ivory Coast, ie in Ouattara's home region and unofficial enemy land for Gbagbo. Simone is also moved north, but to the town of Odienné, where she is interned. In November 2011, Gbagbo will be extradited to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he will be placed in the detention center in Scheveningen. He is accused of "crimes against humanity including murder, rape and persecution" but denies guilt and calls the prosecution one-sided and "the victor's justice". The case starts in January 2016 and lasts until March 2021, when Gbagbo will be acquitted for the second time after a first acquittal had been appealed in January 2019.At the time of writing, Gbagbo lives in Belgium and has been given the green light by Ouattara to return to the Ivory Coast, where, in the words of his rival, he will be able to "enjoy the benefits and allowances available to former presidents." Ouattara did not mention what that is to happen with the conviction for robbery against the West African Central Bank (BCEAO), which Gbagbo allegedly committed along with three others when he was president, and for which an Ivorian court sentenced him to 20 years in prison in January 2018. Meanwhile, Ouattara has consolidated his power in the country and has committed what is called a "constitutional coup", which is so widespread in Africa, and which I will discuss later. After holding the presidency for the two constitutional terms, he announced in July 2020 , that he will run for a third term because his prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly is suddenly dead.Uattara has appointed Coulibaly as his successor, and without him, security under the president is faltering. Ouattara, with the help of the Constitutional Court, that his first term was settled under a previous constitution and therefore should not be counted. The decision triggers violent demonstrations across the country and a massive boycott of the presidential election in October 2020, with turnout coming down to 54.90%.Ouattara wins with 95.31% of the few votes and is therefore still in the presidency. He is obviously considering what it should develop into if Gbagbo returns home. The ex-president is still popular in broad circles in the country.