His Majesty Nanan Amon N’Douffou V, the King of Sanwi in southeastern Ivory Coast, has issued an impassioned open letter to the Ivorian people, warning of “the shadow of a possible new unwanted confrontation” just three months before the country’s presidential election.
“Today, I write to you with an open heart, not in the privacy of a home, but by raising my voice where everyone can hear it. Because what I see, what I sense, threatens not only your family, but much wider.
Your children, our children, those we saw born, grow up, laugh together, are on the brink of the abyss,” the monarch wrote, addressing the growing political tensions nationwide.
In the letter, Nanan Amon N’Douffou V voiced concern over a “rise in anger, shouts, hatred (…) and in this dull tension, I already hear the footsteps of possible violence.” He warned that “a confrontation seems to be brewing, perhaps even a war to be avoided,” calling on Ivorians to steer their nation away from bloodshed.
“You, my daughter (Côte d’Ivoire), you stand there, between two worlds: that of peace that you have always wanted, and that of blood that could threaten to sweep everything away. So let me speak to you, not just as a mother (counselor), but as a conscience. What you do now, what you say, what you silently refuse or accept, can change the course of things. You can be the voice that speaks out to say no,” the king declared.
He urged Ivorians to reject cycles of revenge: “No to revenge, no to hatred passed down as a legacy, no to the repetition of old pain. Tell your children and all those who listen that the blood of a brother, a neighbor, a former friend, washes away no shame and restores no honor.”
The letter arrives amid escalating tensions, as the opposition alliance—known as the Common Front, uniting Laurent Gbagbo’s PPA-CI and Tidjane Thiam’s PDCI—presses for the reinstatement of barred figures, including Gbagbo, Thiam, Guillaume Soro, Charles Blé Goudé, and Noël Akossi Bendjo, on the 2025 electoral list.
The coalition is also demanding an independent audit of the electoral roll, reforms to the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), and full compliance with the Electoral Code. To press their demands, the PPA-CI and PDCI have called a joint march in Abidjan on 2 August, beginning in Marcory and ending at Place de la République in Plateau.
Nanan Amon N’Douffou V’s plea echoes the country’s painful history of political and military crises, urging Ivorians to protect peace as the 25 October 2025 election approaches.
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