| Guillaume Soro | |
|---|---|
| Prime Minister of the Ivory Coast | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 4 April 2007* |
|
| President | Laurent Gbagbo Alassane Ouattara |
| Preceded by | Charles Konan Banny |
| Minister of Defence | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 11 April 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Amani N'Guessan |
| Leader of the Patriotic Movement | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 20 December 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Party established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 May 1972 Diawala, Ivory Coast |
| Political party | Patriotic Movement |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| *The office of Prime Minister was disputed between Soro and Gilbert Aké from 6 December 2010 to 11 April 2011. | |
Guillaume Kigbafori Soro (born 8 May 1972 in Ferkessédougou, Côte d'Ivoire) has served as the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire since 4 April 2007. Prior to his service as Prime Minister, Soro led the Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire and later the New Forces rebel group as its Secretary-General.[1][2]
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A Roman Catholic from Diawala in the north of the country, Soro led the rebel Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire (MPCI) in a September 2002 rebellion against the government of President Laurent Gbagbo that triggered the Ivorian Civil War. In December 2002 Soro's MPCI combined with two other rebel groups – Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West (MPIGO) and Movement for Justice and Peace (MJP) – to form the les Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire (New Forces). He became Secretary-general of the group.
Following a peace agreement in January 2003, Soro joined the government as communications minister in April 2003.[3] The New Forces ministers began a boycott of the government in September 2003 and returned to the government in January 2004.[4] After an opposition demonstration held in Abidjan was violently broken up in March 2004, Soro and other former rebel and opposition ministers began boycotting the government. In turn, Gbagbo dismissed Soro from his position, along with two other ministers, on 19 May 2004. Soro denounced this move, saying that it was effectively a coup by Gbagbo against the peace agreement.[5][6] On 9 August 2004 Soro attended a cabinet meeting and was reinstated in his position.[7] On 28 December 2005, Soro was appointed minister of reconstruction and reintegration in the government of Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny; in this position he became the second ranking member of the government, after the prime minister.[8] He did not, however, attend a cabinet meeting in this capacity until 15 March 2006.[9]
Following a peace deal signed on 4 March 2007, it was considered a possibility that Soro would be named prime minister in a new government, and Gbagbo was said to want Soro as the next prime minister.[10] In an interview published on 26 March, Soro said that he would be willing to become prime minister.[11] An agreement was signed on the same day according to which Soro would become prime minister, and Gbagbo was expected to officially appoint him to the position,[12] which he did on 29 March.[13] Soro took office on 4 April,[14] and his government was named on 7 April, with 32 ministers (excluding Soro himself); this was slightly fewer than in Banny's government, and Soro's government contained many of the same ministers as its predecessor.[15][16]
In a speech broadcast on 13 April, Soro apologized "to everybody and on behalf of everybody" for the harm caused by the war.[17]
Soro, as Prime Minister, was barred from standing in the 2010 presidential election by the peace agreement. Soro said in a March 2008 interview with Jeune Afrique that he would discuss his future political plans following the election. Rumors have suggested that Soro and Gbagbo have secretly agreed on an arrangement whereby Soro would support Gbagbo in the election and, in exchange, Gbagbo would back Soro in the subsequent presidential election; Soro derided these rumors as "gossip". Describing himself as an "arbiter of the electoral process", he said that the New Forces would not back any candidate and its members could vote for whomever they wished.[18]
When the Gbagbo-allied Constitutional Council proclaimed the result of the 2010 poll and Gbagbo was sworn in, Soro resigned as prime minister, supporting opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara, who had been declared the winner by the electoral commission, politically closed to him. Ouattara reappointed Soro after taking the oath of office by writing at a rival ceremony.
On 29 June 2007 rockets were fired at Soro's plane at the airport in Bouaké. The Fokker 100 carrying Prime Minister Soro, members of his delegation, and 20 journalists was taxiing on the runway after landing when it was targeted by rocket and Kalashnikov fire. One rocket struck and exploded in the cabin, one missed, and a third bounced off the fuselage and did not detonate.[19] Four people were killed and ten others wounded; Soro was not injured.[20] Those who died were:
Soro and Gbagbo participated in disarmament ceremony, the "peace flame", on 30 July. This ceremony involved burning weapons to symbolize the end of the conflict.[23][24]
Several rumors concerning the masterminds of the attack have circulated in the Ivorian press. Among those suspected:
Since Côte d'Ivoire is the most important cocoa producer in the world, the price of this raw material reached its highest level in four years on the London Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. Underlying concern, according to a stock market analyst, was "the possible worsening of the situation in Côte d'Ivoire".[30]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New political party | Leader of the Patriotic Movement 2005–present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Charles Konan Banny |
Prime Minister of the Ivory Coast 2007–present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Amani N'Guessan |
Minister of Defence 2011–present |
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