1. Guillaume Kigbafori Soro was born on 8 May 1972 and is an Ivorian politician who was the Prime Minister of Cote d'Ivoire from April 2007 to March 2012.
19 Facts About Guillaume Soro
1. 2.
In March 2012, Guillaume Soro became President of the National Assembly of Cote d'Ivoire.
3.
Guillaume Soro stepped down from that position in February 2019, announcing in June 2019 that he is running to succeed President Alassane Ouattara.
4.
Guillaume Soro is a Senoufo from Ferkessedougou and is of the Catholic faith.
5.
Guillaume Soro's father was a member of the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire.
6.
Guillaume Soro led the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire in a September 2002 rebellion against President Laurent Gbagbo that triggered the Ivorian Civil War.
7.
In December 2002 Guillaume Soro's MPCI combined with two other rebel groups, the Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West and the Movement for Justice and Peace, to form the New Forces.
8.
In July 2023, an investigating judge in Paris, France was appointed to investigate the April 2011 assassination of Ibrahima Coulibaly, a former Ivorian rebel leader, in which Guillaume Soro is believed to have been implicated in the assassination.
9.
Guillaume Soro denounced the dismissals, saying they were effectively a coup by Gbagbo against the peace agreement.
10.
On 28 December 2005, Guillaume Soro was appointed Minister of Reconstruction and Reintegration by Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny.
11.
Guillaume Soro attended his first cabinet meeting in this capacity on 15 March 2006.
12.
The peace agreement barred Guillaume Soro from standing in the 2010 presidential election, and he told Jeune Afrique in a March 2008 interview that he would discuss his political future after the election.
13.
Guillaume Soro dismissed this as "gossip," describing himself as an "arbiter of the electoral process," and further said the New Forces would not back any candidate and that its members could vote for whomever they wished.
14.
Ouattara had been declared the winner by the electoral commission, and he reappointed Guillaume Soro after taking the oath of office at a rival ceremony.
15.
Guillaume Soro was elected to the National Assembly in the December 2011 parliamentary election.
16.
Guillaume Soro was then elected as President of the National Assembly on 12 March 2012, a move that ensured that he would remain a key figure on the political scene.
17.
Guillaume Soro received 230 votes from the 252 deputies present; Evariste Meambly, an independent deputy, received 12 votes, and there were 10 spoilt votes.
18.
Guillaume Soro wasn't injured, but four people were killed and ten others wounded.
19.
Guillaume Soro stated that he intended to compete in the Ivorian presidential election on 31 October 2020.