Ivory Coast opposition leader and former Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan was under arrest on Saturday for creating a rival government after President Alassane Ouattara’s election victory, his wife and a spokeswoman said.
Ivorian prosecutors are pursuing “terrorism” charges against more than a dozen opposition leaders who boycotted the October 31 vote, in which Ouattara won a third term in office, and announced they were creating a transitional council.
The standoff has raised fears of protracted instability in the world’s top cocoa producer, whose disputed 2010 presidential election led to a brief civil war.
Affi N’Guessan was arrested overnight after the public prosecutor confirmed on Friday he was being sought by the police, his wife, Angeline Kili, told the Reuters news agency.
“I confirm that my husband was arrested during the night but I don’t know where he is right now,” she said. Genevieve Goetzinger, a spokeswoman for Affi N’Guessan, said on Twitter he was arrested in the southeastern town of Akoupe while en route to his hometown of Bongouanou.
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