In Ivory Coast, democrat to dictator

President Felix Houphou t-Boigny - Ivory Coast's first president, who ruled for more than 30 years - had forbidden Gbagbo, then a democracy activist and history professor, from holding a conference. The government detained about 100 of us demonstrators at a military base, where we spent two days without food. We did not regret it; we had pinned our hopes for democracy on Gbagbo.

But look at Gbagbo now: Soundly defeated at the polls last November after a decade as president, he refused to concede, plunging Ivory Coast into chaos.