Profile: Laurent Gbagbo

Gbagbo became president after 30 years in opposition

By Beatrice Murail BBC News Online

As tension escalates in Ivory Coast, President Laurent Gbagbo looks increasingly like the man who will make or break his country.

Criticism has been mounting in his own camp, with the army, ordinary people in the south of the country and even his own ministers urging him to go back on last week's accord with the rebels.

It is a pleasure to have him round for dinner

A friend of Laurent Gbagbo's

Even the French, who pushed through the deal, have been losing patience, with Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin urging Ivorians to face up to their responsibilities.

Mr Gbagbo has said that the claims by the rebels that they would get the defence and interior portfolios were just rumours.

But he has yet to explain the deal, which has sparked violence and prompted French nationals to leave Ivory Coast.

The rebels say Mr Gbagbo is two-faced, but his long-delayed address to the nation has also prompted some observers to wonder if the head of state, who has had a reputation as an opportunist, has not deliberately kept silent.

Controversial election

The roots of the crisis also revolve around Mr Gbagbo.

When the rebels took up arms in the north last September, they said his government had treated them like "slaves" and they were rebelling against "dictatorship hiding under the guise of democracy".

The soldiers who started the rebellion were men recruited by Mr Gbagbo's rival in the October 2000 presidential election, the late General Robert Guei, who briefly ruled the country.

The rebels, like the opposition Rally of Republicans at the time of the poll, say that Mr Gbagbo's election was not free and fair.

Gbagbo the historian now at the heart of his country's history in the making

Laurent Gbagbo was originally associated with the political left, but analysts say that since the 1980s he has taken a strongly nationalist stance.

He was accused of surfing on the wave of xenophobia which has been sweeping Ivory Coast ever since the concept of "Ivoirite" - "Ivorianness" - was introduced by President Henri Konan Bedie to prevent a Muslim from the north, Alassane Ouattara, from running for president for the RDR.

But he denied the allegations. "I have not changed, he said at the time. "You must change your glasses."

But before the 2000 election, Alassane Ouattara eclipsed him as the country's most noticeable opposition leader.

No personality cult

Laurent Gbagbo was born in a Catholic family near Gagnoa, in the centre-west of the country, nearly 58 years ago.

"Cicero", as he was nicknamed because of his taste for Latin during his schooldays, has a PhD in history.

Beginning his career as a university lecturer, Mr Gbagbo was jailed for two years in 1971 for "subversive" teaching. His nom de guerre was "little brother".

In the 1980s he was involved in trade union activity among academics.

Laurent Gbagbo

1971 Jailed for "subversive teaching"

1982 Exile in Paris after union activism

1988 Returns to Ivory Coast

1990 Election challenge

1992 Jailed after student protests

1995 Forms alliance against election

2000 Takes part in transitional government

He was one of the first to challenge Ivory Coast's founding President Felix Houphouet Boigny in the 1980s, as soon as the long-serving independence leader permitted multiparty politics.

In 1982 he sought exile in Paris, returning six years later to attend the founding congress of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).

After his election two years ago, he broke with the personality cult tradition, saying it was no longer necessary to put up portraits of the president in public places and offices.

Gourmet

He also said that the national media would no longer be obliged to mention the president in all news programmes. But two years on, most news broadcasts highlight Mr Gbagbo's daily activities.

Mrs Gbagbo has responsibilities within the FPI

Laurent Gbagbo has a reputation for being short-tempered, in particular against "arrogant" journalists, but he is also known for his contagious laughs and vigorous handshakes.

He is said to have a passion for music, guitar and good food.

"It is a pleasure to have him round for dinner," one of his friends was quoted as saying in Jeune Afrique-L'Intelligent magazine.

Many in Ivory Coast hope that Laurent Gbagbo, as a man who showed perseverance and courage throughout his long career as an opposition leader, will find a way out of the current crisis for his country as president.

His place in history depends on it.