In Côte d'Ivoire, two former dignitaries of the Gbagbo regime are returning home. A former minister and spokesman of the last government before the fall of Gbagbo in 2011, and a former Director General of Ivorian Customs, returned from exile Saturday.
The ex-officials are returning to take their place in the new party announced by Laurent Gbagbo.
They are also returning at a time when the UNHCR is calling for an end to refugee status for Ivorians.
Landing at Abidjan's Félix Houphouët-Boigny international airport on Saturday, Ahoua Don Mello and Alphonse Mangly were warmly welcomed by some of their “Gbagbo or nothing comrades”.
Ahoua Don Mello, former Ivorian Minister of Equipment under Laurent Gbagbo, was in exile in Guinea where he served as special adviser to Alpha Condé. After the September 5 coup that toppled the regime in Conakry, he briefly sought refuge in Russia.
According to the UN agency, since the end of the post-election crisis of 2010-2011, more than 290,000 Ivorians living in West Africa have returned home voluntarily.
However, the UNHCR says that currently there are still some 91,000 Ivorian refugees and asylum seekers in the world.