Abidjan, 31 August, 2020 / 9:43 pm (ACI Africa).
The Cardinal in Ivory Coast has, in a statement, expressed his concerns about the election-related violence in the West African country and has called on the parties behind the conflict to look beyond the election event and instead focus on reconciliation of the people of God.
“In truth, reconciliation is more important than elections. That is why it is totally wrong to think that it is enough to organize elections and to declare a winner for wounded hearts to be healed and for peace to be restored,” Jean Pierre Cardinal Kutwa says in a message issued Monday, August 31.
The elections are expected to take place October 31. The Cardinal read out his message to journalists in a press conference that took place at the St. Paul Cathedral in Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan.
“The socio-political life of our country is taking a dangerous twist. As the presidential elections approach, we have observed with dismay the deepening conflict of ideas on both sides. These conflicting ideas have become all the more accentuated since the declaration of the candidacy of the President of the Republic on 6 August 2020,” Cardinal Kutwa says in the August 31 statement obtained by ACI Africa.
“Some citizens have taken to the streets to call for the respect of the Constitution, which, according to them, had just been violated,” the Archbishop of Abidjan says and continues, “This situation led to unacceptable violence. Citizens of the same country, armed with clubs, stones, machetes and firearms, engaged in violence, causing, as was to be expected, deaths and countless injuries, not to mention material damage.”