ABIDJAN – Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara was inaugurated Monday for a third term in office amid ongoing outcries from opposition parties. More than 300 people attended the swearing in ceremony at the Presidential Palace, including about 10 African heads of state, as the re-elected Ouattara called for national dialogue. “I renew my ambition to rebuild a more united Ivory Coast for a better future,” he said. On Sunday, the exiled opponent and former president of the National Assembly, Guillaume Soro, called on Ivorians to stand up against Ouattara, saying he risks sinking Ivory Coast into permanent disorder and instability. Ouattara maintains that the country’s two-term limit for presidents does not apply to him because of a constitutional referendum passed in 2016.

(AP Photo/Leo Correa)ABIDJAN – Prominent dissident Guillaume Soro, a former prime minister who was blocked from running in Ivory Coast's presidential election, called Wednesday on the country's military to disobey President Alassane Ouattara after he was allowed to win a controversial third term. To the defense and security forces, I ask you to look in the mirror, in soul and conscience, and act to stop the killings. "Alassane Ouattara is no longer the President of the Republic of Ivory Coast. There have been widespread fears of post-election violence erupting in Ivory Coast, where more than 3,000 people were killed following a disputed vote a decade ago. “We must stand up and block the former president, Alassane Ouattara, who has taken the country hostage,” Soro said.

By evening, the country's electoral commission had released provisional results from fewer than half of the country's 108 departments. It wasn't immediately clear when a final tally would be announced, but the opposition continued to attack the legitimacy of the vote itself. Pascal Affi N’Guessan, one of the top opposition candidates who later boycotted the vote, said late Monday that Henri Konan Bedie, the country's 86-year-old former president, would head up a council of transition. Only one of the three opposition candidates actively campaigned against Ouattara after the two others called for a boycott. The observer mission also said Monday that the exclusion of most candidates had compromised the integrity of Ivory Coast's election.

A woman sells her goods at a local market in Abobo neighborhood, suburbs of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)ABIDJAN – Ivory Coast residents braced for more unrest Sunday as election officials began releasing the first results from the country's presidential election and opponents of President Alassane Ouattara stepped up their criticism of his quest for a third term. Soro, a former prime minister and president of Ivory Coast's National Assembly, was disqualified earlier this year from running in Saturday's election. Soro's comments about his former mentor came as some Ivorians feared a possible return to the electoral violence that had engulfed the country nearly a decade ago. “Let them stop because Ivory Coast needs peace.”___Associated Press writer Toussaint N'Gotta contributed.

Youth play soccer next to a barricade that was set on a street after protests, earlier this year, against the decision of President Alassane Ouattara's to run for a third term in Bonoua, in the outskirts of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. “The violence seen in Ivory Coast during the first pre-election crisis of 2010 must not be repeated.”The 2010 presidential election brought months of violence after then-President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara. “Ivory Coast wants peace, we don’t accept disorder," Ouattara said. There will be no elections on Oct. 31 in Ivory Coast," N’Guessan said in an interview this week with France 24 and Radio France Internationale. Guillaume Soro, a former prime minister and president of the National Assembly, remains in France after his return to Ivory Coast was thwarted by criminal charges his followers say were politically motivated.