Guillaume Soro’s media blitz
Ivory Coast’s parliamentary speaker Guillaume Soro is making sure he stays in the public eye with the help of a new book, a documentary film project and extensive use of social networking sites. [...]
Published on 22 March 2012
Guillaume Soro trades uniform for speaker's post
In less than a decade, 39-year-old Guillaume Soro has held pretty well every powerful government post in Ivory Coast. Prime minister between March 2007 and 2011 as a result of an armed rebellion that he had himself triggered five years previously, he has just been elected president of Parliament. His ultimate goal is to take over one day as Ivorian president in succession to Alassane Ouattara.
In the meantime, the former leader of the FESCI student association, who is being groomed from Ouagadougou by his other mentor, Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore, is cultivating all of his connections (international, Free Masonry, business) and placing his men in key posts in government, state-run companies and the like. Soros' climb to the top has been rare in an African country. His progress is examined in this report by West Africa Newsletter.
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IVORY COAST 03/04/2013
IVORY COAST 14/03/2012
Soro lands speaker’s job
Everyone thought that Guillaume Soro would not become speaker of the national assembly because at 39 he was a year too young to qualify for the job. But then Ouattara stepped in. [...]
IVORY COAST 15/02/2012
Soro simmers down
President Alassane Ouattara is under growing pressure from Henri Konan Bedie’s PDCI to honour his campaign promises and remove Guillaume Soro as prime minister. [...]
IVORY COAST 01/02/2012
Ex-rebels rule at new cocoa board
Hastened into existence by the IMF, the new body that administers Ivory Coast's cocoa sector will be overseen by a clutch of Prime Minister Guillaume Soro's friends. [...]
BURKINA FASO 18/01/2012
Soro welcomes Burkinabe business
Business in Ivory Coast is booming for Burkinabe entrepreneurs, thanks to the ties between Guillaume Soro and Blaise Compaore. [...]
Ouattara and Soro’s security woes
Despite winning a clear victory in the legislative elections on December 11, which delivered 127 seats to his Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) and another 35 seats to allied independent candidates, out of a total 254 seats, President Alassane Ouattara remains [. [...]
IVORY COAST 02/11/2011
Soro swaps fatigues for suit and tie
After nearly a decade as head of Ivory Coast’s rebel movement, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro plans to use the country’s [...]
Ouattara's French touch
Felix Houphouet-Boigny coined the term Françafrique, which he used positively to mean the close ties between France and its former colonies, and Ivory Coast's founding president always swore by his French advisors when making decisions and embarking on grand projects. [...]
IVORY COAST 20/07/2011
Ouattara/Soro : from duo to duel
Three months after his inauguration as president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara appears to have little confidence in his Prime Minister, and vice versa. [...]
IVORY COAST 06/07/2011
Ouattara’s Masonic government
The Freemasonry movement has done well out of the change of regime in Ivory Coast, filling a number of key ministries with its members. [...]
IVORY COAST 06/07/2011
Gbagbo planned to get rid of Soro
Well before the second round of the presidential elections on November 28, Laurent Gbagbo was intending to obtain funds and [...]
IVORY COAST 22/06/2011
Guillaume Soro strategizes
As his armed movement prepares to disband and enter the fold of Ivory Coast’s army, the prime minister is searching for long-term political legitimacy. [...]
IVORY COAST 20/04/2011
Ouattara makes security a priority
The new president of Ivory Coast has a tough but vital job ahead curbing the zeal of the gun-toting former Forces Nouvelles rebels, now that Gbagbo has been dealt with. [...]
IVORY COAST 06/04/2011
Ouattara’s democratic coup d’etat
It took Guillaume Soro four months to prepare the vast military offensive against Gbagbo which has turned into a victorious replay of his abortive coup in 2002. [...]