The Flame of Peace is the ceremony that officially marked the end of the

First Ivorian Civil War The First Ivorian Civil War was a Civil war, civil conflict in the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) that began with a Armed Forces of the Republic of Ivory Coast, military rebellion on 19 September 2002 and ended with a peace agreement on 4 March 20 ...

. The ceremony took place on July 31, 2007, and was attended by Ivorian president

Laurent Gbagbo Koudou Laurent Gbagbo
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and ex-rebel leader

Guillaume Soro Guillaume Kigbafori Soro (born 8 May 1972) is an Ivorian politician who was the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from April 2007 to March 2012. Prior to his service as Prime Minister, Soro led the Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire, and later ...

. Several West African leaders, such as

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Blaise Compaoré Blaise Compaoré (born 3 February 1951)''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 76–77.

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Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (; born 6 June 1966)"Biographie de nouveau pré ...

Nino Vieira Nino or Niño may refer to: People *Nino (name) *Niño (name) *Antonin Scalia, American Supreme Court justice whose nickname was "Nino" Songs * "Niño" (Belanova song), 2005 * "Niño" (Ed Maverick song), 2021 *"Nino", a song from the album '' G ...

, and

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attended the inaugural ceremony.

Event

The event took place at the

Stade de la Paix Stade de la Paix is a multi-use stadium in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 40,000 people. Along with Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, it was constructed for the 1984 African Nations Cu ...

Bouaké Bouaké (or Bwake, N'Ko script, N’ko: ߓߐ߰ߞߍ߫ ''Bɔ̀ɔkɛ́'') is the second-largest list of cities in Ivory Coast, city in Ivory Coast, with a population of 740,000 (2021 census). It is the seat of three levels of subdivisions of Ivory ...

, a rebel stronghold during the five-year civil war. Tens of thousands of people were present in the stadium, many wearing shirts that said "Flame of Peace, Bouake 2007, I was there". The ceremony marked Gbagbo's first time in the northern part of the country since the start of the civil war. The flame of peace made its way from Tiébissou, in the country's center, and ended at the stadium. When it reached the stadium, former Ivorian chief of staff

Philippe Mangou Philippe Mangou (born 26 January 1952) was the head of the armed forces of Ivory Coast from 2004 until 2011. Biography He studied law at the University of Cocody-Abidjan. In November 2004, Laurent Gbagbo made him ''Chef d'État Major des Armées' ...

and ex-rebel chief of staff Soumaila Bakayoko received the flame. A

105 mm 105 mm (4.1 in) is a common NATO-standard artillery and tank gun calibre. The rifled tank round is defined by STANAG 4458. The artillery round is defined by AOP-29 part 3 with reference to STANAG 4425. Artillery Since the early 21st century, mos ...

artillery weapon was then sawed in half in the center of the stadium, and several small arms were thrown into an incinerator. Gbagbo and Soro each handed the other a weapon and declared their intent for peace, and Mangou and Bakayoko did the same. Afterwards, the flame of peace was passed between all four leaders and subsequently the visiting West African leaders.

References

{{Reflist

External links

CÔTE-D'IVOIRE. La paix enfin! - Courrier International, July 31, 2007
History of Ivory Coast July 2007 in Africa