Latest news with #ANSSI
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Strengthening digital trust: Orange Business receives SecNumCloud qualification, Europe's strictest security standard, for Cloud Avenue SecNum
PARIS, July 16, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In today's world, where security and sovereignty are more important than ever before, Orange Business has obtained the security visa from the French Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) for the SecNumCloud qualification of its Cloud Avenue SecNum platform. This highest level of recognition in Europe certifies that our dedicated and private Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) environments meet the strictest security and transparency standards. With this achievement, our customers can confidently deploy their critical services on a powerful, secure, and trusted cloud platform. Cloud Avenue SecNum: a trusted, sovereign platform At the heart of Orange Business' strategy is a reliable cloud platform that complies with security and regulatory requirements across Europe. Hosted in our sustainable data center in Grenoble, France, and managed by our dedicated French teams, Cloud Avenue SecNum ensures data sovereignty. Designed with a modular architecture and an "as-a-service" approach, the platform empowers users to increase their autonomy and technological control. It comes with built-in security features, such as encryption, key management, network isolation, and access control, while also providing comprehensive traceability of actions and ensuring physical, environmental, and operational security. Aligned with the French state "cloud doctrine", the platform helps our customers meet the strictest French and European standards. Cloud Avenue: a range of cloud solutions for diverse organizational needs. This solution is part of our comprehensive Cloud Avenue portfolio, developed and managed by Orange Business. It offers complete flexibility through modular technology. Our solutions are designed to meet the needs of all organizations, especially those in sensitive sectors like industry, banking, healthcare, defense, and public services. With infrastructure across Europe (France, Germany, Norway and Sweden), Cloud Avenue ensures full data control and strict compliance with regulations. According to Frederic Beon, Director of Information Systems and Digital Organization for the Gers Department, a region in Southwest France, "The platform provides us with the necessary security and compliance to meet regulations such as the French state "Cloud Doctrine", while also enabling us to gain autonomy with our testing and development. Additionally, Cloud Avenue SecNum allows us to significantly reduce time spent certifying our user online services in accordance with the General Security Referential (RGS), thereby optimizing our operational efficiency." "At Orange Business, our mission is to deliver unwavering trust and control over cloud infrastructures for our customers. SecNumCloud qualification demonstrates our commitment to sovereignty and confirms that our Cloud Avenue SecNum solution adheres to the strictest security and compliance standards. This validation reinforces our dedication toward our customers who are facing the complexities of an ever-changing digital landscape," says Aliette Mousnier-Lompré, CEO of Orange Business. SecNumCloud: An essential qualification to enhance security and trust The SecNumCloud qualification, granted by ANSSI, confirms that infrastructure meets Europe's highest security standards. This ensures strong protection for sensitive data, such as intellectual property or artificial intelligence information. Going through this rigorous process helps reduce legal and technical risks and gives users greater confidence in cloud solutions. In addition, ANSSI security visas, awarded after detailed evaluations by authorized labs, verify that these solutions are reliable and compliant. These assessments include penetration tests and thorough analyses to identify security measures that are truly trustworthy. This security visa serves as a badge of credibility for organizations that adopt these qualified solutions. About Orange Business Orange Business, the enterprise division of the Orange Group, is a leading network and digital integrator, supporting customers to create positive impact and digital business. The combined strength of its next-generation connectivity, cloud, and cybersecurity expertise, platforms, and partners provides the foundation for enterprises around the world. With 30,000 employees across 65 countries, Orange Business enables its customers' transformations by orchestrating end-to-end secured digital infrastructure and focusing on the employee, customer, and operational experience. More than 30,000 B-to-B customers put their trust in Orange Business globally. Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with revenues of 40.3 billion euros in 2024 and 291 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2024. In February 2023, the Group presented its strategic plan "Lead the Future", built on a new business model and guided by responsibility and efficiency. "Lead the Future" capitalizes on network excellence to reinforce Orange's leadership in service quality. Orange is listed on the Euronext Paris (ORA). For more information: or follow us on LinkedIn and on X: @orangebusiness Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited. View source version on Contacts Presse Emmanuelle Nahmany: Severine Belhomme-Moisand:
Globe and Mail
16-07-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Strengthening digital trust: Orange Business receives SecNumCloud qualification, Europe's strictest security standard, for Cloud Avenue SecNum
In today's world, where security and sovereignty are more important than ever before, Orange Business has obtained the security visa from the French Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) for the SecNumCloud qualification of its Cloud Avenue SecNum platform. This highest level of recognition in Europe certifies that our dedicated and private Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) environments meet the strictest security and transparency standards. With this achievement, our customers can confidently deploy their critical services on a powerful, secure, and trusted cloud platform. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Orange Business has obtained the security visa from the French Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) for the SecNumCloud qualification of its Cloud Avenue SecNum platform. (Photo credit: Orange Business) Cloud Avenue SecNum: a trusted, sovereign platform At the heart of Orange Business' strategy is a reliable cloud platform that complies with security and regulatory requirements across Europe. Hosted in our sustainable data center in Grenoble, France, and managed by our dedicated French teams, Cloud Avenue SecNum ensures data sovereignty. Designed with a modular architecture and an 'as-a-service' approach, the platform empowers users to increase their autonomy and technological control. It comes with built-in security features, such as encryption, key management, network isolation, and access control, while also providing comprehensive traceability of actions and ensuring physical, environmental, and operational security. Aligned with the French state 'cloud doctrine', the platform helps our customers meet the strictest French and European standards. Cloud Avenue: a range of cloud solutions for diverse organizational needs. This solution is part of our comprehensive Cloud Avenue portfolio, developed and managed by Orange Business. It offers complete flexibility through modular technology. Our solutions are designed to meet the needs of all organizations, especially those in sensitive sectors like industry, banking, healthcare, defense, and public services. With infrastructure across Europe (France, Germany, Norway and Sweden), Cloud Avenue ensures full data control and strict compliance with regulations. According to Frederic Beon, Director of Information Systems and Digital Organization for the Gers Department, a region in Southwest France, "The platform provides us with the necessary security and compliance to meet regulations such as the French state 'Cloud Doctrine', while also enabling us to gain autonomy with our testing and development. Additionally, Cloud Avenue SecNum allows us to significantly reduce time spent certifying our user online services in accordance with the General Security Referential (RGS), thereby optimizing our operational efficiency." 'At Orange Business, our mission is to deliver unwavering trust and control over cloud infrastructures for our customers. SecNumCloud qualification demonstrates our commitment to sovereignty and confirms that our Cloud Avenue SecNum solution adheres to the strictest security and compliance standards. This validation reinforces our dedication toward our customers who are facing the complexities of an ever-changing digital landscape,' says Aliette Mousnier-Lompré, CEO of Orange Business. SecNumCloud: An essential qualification to enhance security and trust The SecNumCloud qualification, granted by ANSSI, confirms that infrastructure meets Europe's highest security standards. This ensures strong protection for sensitive data, such as intellectual property or artificial intelligence information. Going through this rigorous process helps reduce legal and technical risks and gives users greater confidence in cloud solutions. In addition, ANSSI security visas, awarded after detailed evaluations by authorized labs, verify that these solutions are reliable and compliant. These assessments include penetration tests and thorough analyses to identify security measures that are truly trustworthy. This security visa serves as a badge of credibility for organizations that adopt these qualified solutions. About Orange Business Orange Business, the enterprise division of the Orange Group, is a leading network and digital integrator, supporting customers to create positive impact and digital business. The combined strength of its next-generation connectivity, cloud, and cybersecurity expertise, platforms, and partners provides the foundation for enterprises around the world. With 30,000 employees across 65 countries, Orange Business enables its customers' transformations by orchestrating end-to-end secured digital infrastructure and focusing on the employee, customer, and operational experience. More than 30,000 B-to-B customers put their trust in Orange Business globally. Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with revenues of 40.3 billion euros in 2024 and 291 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2024. In February 2023, the Group presented its strategic plan "Lead the Future", built on a new business model and guided by responsibility and efficiency. "Lead the Future" capitalizes on network excellence to reinforce Orange's leadership in service quality. Orange is listed on the Euronext Paris (ORA). For more information: or follow us on LinkedIn and on X: @orangebusiness
Business Wire
03-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Tanium Achieves ANSSI-CSPN Certification
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tanium, a leader in Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM), today announced that it received the Certification de Sécurité de Premier Niveau (CSPN) from L'Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d'information (ANSSI), France's national cybersecurity authority. This certification, in the 'Security Administration and Supervision' category, confirms that the Tanium on-premises platform meets France's robust and rigorous cybersecurity standards. After a comprehensive security evaluation by an accredited third-party assessor, Tanium received the ANSSI CSPN certification (ANSSI-CSPN-2025/04) for its on-premises platform. The certification was undertaken in response to growing market demand and is part of Tanium's broader strategy to align with European regulatory frameworks. It is valid for three years. 'Achieving CSPN certification is a critical step in our mission to support European organisations with trusted, secure technology,' said Jerome Warot, Area Vice President of Solution Engineering at Tanium. 'As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, it's essential that our customers in France, and across Europe, can rely on solutions that meet the highest standards. This certification underscores our commitment to delivering real-time visibility and control to complex IT environments around the world.' Through the CSPN-BSZ mutual recognition agreement between ANSSI and Germany's Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI), the validity of the certification extends to Germany and further enhances Tanium's position as a trusted technology vendor in Europe. 'This certification is a testament to Tanium's long-term investment in France,' said Dagobert Levy, Vice President, EMEA South at Tanium. 'We are proud to contribute to the strengthening of France's cybersecurity ecosystem and to provide our customers with a platform that meets the highest standards of certainty, trust and resilience.' To learn more about Tanium's security certifications and how Tanium AEM supports European organisations, visit: About Tanium Tanium Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM) offers the most comprehensive solution for intelligently managing endpoints across industries, providing capabilities for asset discovery and inventory, vulnerability management, endpoint management, incident response, risk and compliance, and digital employee experience. The platform supports 34 million endpoints worldwide, including 40% of the Fortune 100, delivering increasingly efficient operations and an improved security posture at scale, with confidence, and in real-time. For more information on The Power of Certainty™, visit and follow us on LinkedIn and X. Legal Disclaimer The information described herein is for general informational purposes only. This information is not a commitment, warranty, offer, promise, or legal obligation for us to deliver any future products, features, or functionality, and is not intended to be, and shall not be deemed to be, incorporated into any contract. The actual timing of any product, feature, or functionality that is ultimately made available may be different from what is described.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why did rumours of a coup sweep Ivory Coast this week?
Fake stories of a coup d'etat in the West African nation of Ivory Coast surfaced this week amid mounting tensions over the upcoming October general elections. Several accounts on social media sites, including Facebook and X, posted videos of huge crowds on streets with burning buildings, which they claimed were from the country's commercial capital, Abidjan. However, no violence was reported by security forces or any other government authorities in the city this week. Abidjan residents also denied the claims on social media. On Thursday, the country's National Agency for Information Systems Security of Ivory Coast (ANSSI) denied the rumours. In a statement published on local media sites, the agency said: 'Publications currently circulating on the X network claim that a coup d'etat has taken place in Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast] … This claim is completely unfounded. It is the result of a deliberate and coordinated disinformation campaign.' The rumours come just weeks after popular opposition politician Tidjane Thiam was barred from running for office after his eligibility was challenged in court over a technicality relating to his citizenship status. Thiam is appealing the ruling and claims the ban is political. Ivory Coast, Africa's cocoa powerhouse, has a long history of election violence, with one episode a decade ago spiralling into armed conflict that resulted in thousands of deaths. Fears that President Alassane Ouattara might run for a fourth term have added to the tensions this time. Although the country has a two-term limit for presidents, a constitutional amendment in 2016 reset the clock on his terms, the president's supporters argue, allowing him to run for a third five-year term in 2020. That same argument could also see him on the ballot papers this October, despite what experts say is widespread disillusionment with the political establishment in the country. Here's what we know about the current political situation in the country: Videos showing hundreds of people demonstrating in the streets and setting fires to shops and malls started appearing on social media sites on Wednesday this week. French is the official language in Ivory Coast, but most of the posts and blogs with images purporting to be from were from Abidjan and claiming that a coup d'etat was in progress were written in English. Some posts also claimed that the country's army chief of staff, Lassina Doumbia, had been assassinated and that President Ouattara was missing. These claims were untrue and have been denied by the office of the president. Credible media outlets, including Ivorian state media and private news media, did not report the alleged violence. It is unclear how the rumours that President Ouattara was missing emerged. On Thursday, he chaired a routine cabinet meeting in the capital. He also attended a ceremony commemorating the revered former president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, alongside Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe. The upcoming general elections on October 25 are at the root of current political tensions in the country. Elections have in the past been violent: During the October 2010 general election, former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to hand over power to Ouattara, who was proclaimed the winner by the electoral commission. Tense political negotiations failed, and the situation eventually spiralled into armed civil war, with Ouattara's forces, backed by French troops, besieging Gbagbo's national army. France is the former colonial power in Ivory Coast, and Ouattara has close ties to Paris. Some 3,000 people were killed in the violence. Gbagbo's capture on April 11, 2011, marked the end of the conflict. He was later tried and acquitted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in 2019. That painful history has spurred fears that this year's polls could also turn violent, as several opposition candidates, including Gbagbo, have been barred from running, mainly due to past convictions. In 2018, the former president was sentenced in absentia to a 20-year jail term over the looting of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during the country's post-election crisis. Last December, the governing Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party nominated Ouattara for a fourth term as president. So far, Ouattara has refused to say whether he intends to run, triggering concerns among Ivorians, many of whom feel the president has outstayed his welcome. Analysts see the party's nomination as setting the stage for his eventual candidature, however. Analysts also say there is widespread sympathy for the young military leaders who seized power in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, and who have maintained a hostile stance towards France, unlike Ouattara. He has been praised for overseeing rapid economic stability in the last decade and a half, which has made the country the regional economic hub. Ouattara is also credited with bringing some level of political peace to the country. In 2023, he welcomed back Gbagbo, who had been living in Brussels since his 2021 ICC acquittal. Since then, election campaigns have not been as inflamed as they were in the 2000s when Gbagbo played on ethnic sentiments to incite opposition to Ouattara, whose father was originally from Burkina Faso. However, Ouattara's critics accuse him of fighting to hold onto power unconstitutionally. Some also accuse him of coercing state institutions into railroading his political opponents, including in the latest case involving Thiam. His closeness with France, which is increasingly viewed as arrogant and neo-colonialistic, particularly by younger people across Francophone West Africa, has not won the president any favour from the country's significant under-35 population. Thiam, 62, is a prominent politician and businessman in Ivorian political circles. He is a nephew of the revered Houphouet-Boigny and was the first Ivorian to pass the entrance exam to France's prestigious Polytechnique engineering school. He returned from France to serve as a minister of planning and development from 1998 until 1999, when a coup d'etat collapsed the civilian government, and the army took control of the country. Thiam declined a cabinet position offered by the military government and left the country. He went on to take high-profile positions, first as the chief executive of the UK insurance group, Prudential, and then as head of global investment bank Credit Suisse. A corporate espionage scandal at the bank led to his resignation in 2020 after a colleague accused Thiam of spying on him. Thiam was cleared of any involvement. After returning to Ivory Coast in 2022, Thiam re-entered politics and rejoined the Democratic Party (PDCI), the former governing party which held power from independence in 1960 until the 1999 coup d'etat, and which is now the major opposition party. In December 2023, the party's delegates overwhelmingly voted for Thiam to be the next leader following the death of former head and ex-President Henri Konan Bedie. At the time, PDCI officials said Thiam represented a breath of fresh air for the country's politics, and many young people appeared ready to back him as the next president. But his ambitions came to a halt on April 22 when a judge ordered his name be struck off the list of contenders because Thiam had taken French nationality in 1987 and automatically lost Ivorian citizenship according to the country's laws. Although the politician renounced his French nationality in February this year, the court ruled he had not done so before registering himself on the electoral roll in 2022, and was thus ineligible to be the party leader, a presidential candidate, or even a voter. Thiam and his lawyers argued that the law is inconsistent. Ivorian footballers on the country's national team, Thiam pointed out in one interview with reporters, are mostly also French nationals, but face no restrictions on holding Ivorian nationality. 'The bottom line is, I was born Ivorian,' Thiam told the BBC in an interview, accusing the government of trying to block what he said is his party's likely success in this year's elections. It is unclear if Thiam can legally make his way back onto the candidate list, but he is trying. In May, he resigned as PDCI president and was almost immediately re-elected with 99 percent of the vote. He has yet to reveal if he will attempt to re-register as a candidate, but has promised to keep up the fight. Thiam has pledged to attract industrial investment to the country as he once did as minister, and to remove the country from the France-backed CFA currency economy that comprises West and Central African countries formerly colonised by France, and sees their currencies pegged to the euro. Meanwhile, other strong candidates include Pascal Affi N'Guessan, 67, a former prime minister and close ally of Gbagbo, who will represent Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI). Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady who is now divorced from Gbagbo, will also run, as the nominee for the Movement of the Capable Generations. She was sentenced to a 20-year term in 2015 on charges of undermining state security, but benefitted from an amnesty law to foster national reconciliation later in 2018.
Al Jazeera
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Why did rumours of a coup sweep Ivory Coast this week?
Fake stories of a coup d'etat in the West African nation of Ivory Coast surfaced this week amid mounting tensions over the upcoming October general elections. Several accounts on social media sites, including Facebook and X, posted videos of huge crowds on streets with burning buildings, which they claimed were from the country's commercial capital, Abidjan. However, no violence was reported by security forces or any other government authorities in the city this week. Abidjan residents also denied the claims on social media. On Thursday, the country's National Agency for Information Systems Security of Ivory Coast (ANSSI) denied the rumours. In a statement published on local media sites, the agency said: 'Publications currently circulating on the X network claim that a coup d'etat has taken place in Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast] … This claim is completely unfounded. It is the result of a deliberate and coordinated disinformation campaign.' The rumours come just weeks after popular opposition politician Tidjane Thiam was barred from running for office after his eligibility was challenged in court over a technicality relating to his citizenship status. Thiam is appealing the ruling and claims the ban is political. Ivory Coast, Africa's cocoa powerhouse, has a long history of election violence, with one episode a decade ago spiralling into armed conflict that resulted in thousands of deaths. Fears that President Alassane Ouattara might run for a fourth term have added to the tensions this time. Although the country has a two-term limit for presidents, a constitutional amendment in 2016 reset the clock on his terms, the president's supporters argue, allowing him to run for a third five-year term in 2020. That same argument could also see him on the ballot papers this October, despite what experts say is widespread disillusionment with the political establishment in the country. Here's what we know about the current political situation in the country: Videos showing hundreds of people demonstrating in the streets and setting fires to shops and malls started appearing on social media sites on Wednesday this week. French is the official language in Ivory Coast, but most of the posts and blogs with images purporting to be from were from Abidjan and claiming that a coup d'etat was in progress were written in English. Some posts also claimed that the country's army chief of staff, Lassina Doumbia, had been assassinated and that President Ouattara was missing. These claims were untrue and have been denied by the office of the president. Credible media outlets, including Ivorian state media and private news media, did not report the alleged violence. It is unclear how the rumours that President Ouattara was missing emerged. On Thursday, he chaired a routine cabinet meeting in the capital. He also attended a ceremony commemorating the revered former president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, alongside Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe. The upcoming general elections on October 25 are at the root of current political tensions in the country. Elections have in the past been violent: During the October 2010 general election, former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to hand over power to Ouattara, who was proclaimed the winner by the electoral commission. Tense political negotiations failed, and the situation eventually spiralled into armed civil war, with Ouattara's forces, backed by French troops, besieging Gbagbo's national army. France is the former colonial power in Ivory Coast, and Ouattara has close ties to Paris. Some 3,000 people were killed in the violence. Gbagbo's capture on April 11, 2011, marked the end of the conflict. He was later tried and acquitted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in 2019. That painful history has spurred fears that this year's polls could also turn violent, as several opposition candidates, including Gbagbo, have been barred from running, mainly due to past convictions. In 2018, the former president was sentenced in absentia to a 20-year jail term over the looting of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during the country's post-election crisis. Last December, the governing Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party nominated Ouattara for a fourth term as president. So far, Ouattara has refused to say whether he intends to run, triggering concerns among Ivorians, many of whom feel the president has outstayed his welcome. Analysts see the party's nomination as setting the stage for his eventual candidature, however. Analysts also say there is widespread sympathy for the young military leaders who seized power in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, and who have maintained a hostile stance towards France, unlike Ouattara. He has been praised for overseeing rapid economic stability in the last decade and a half, which has made the country the regional economic hub. Ouattara is also credited with bringing some level of political peace to the country. In 2023, he welcomed back Gbagbo, who had been living in Brussels since his 2021 ICC acquittal. Since then, election campaigns have not been as inflamed as they were in the 2000s when Gbagbo played on ethnic sentiments to incite opposition to Ouattara, whose father was originally from Burkina Faso. However, Ouattara's critics accuse him of fighting to hold onto power unconstitutionally. Some also accuse him of coercing state institutions into railroading his political opponents, including in the latest case involving Thiam. His closeness with France, which is increasingly viewed as arrogant and neo-colonialistic, particularly by younger people across Francophone West Africa, has not won the president any favour from the country's significant under-35 population. Thiam, 62, is a prominent politician and businessman in Ivorian political circles. He is a nephew of the revered Houphouet-Boigny and was the first Ivorian to pass the entrance exam to France's prestigious Polytechnique engineering school. He returned from France to serve as a minister of planning and development from 1998 until 1999, when a coup d'etat collapsed the civilian government, and the army took control of the country. Thiam declined a cabinet position offered by the military government and left the country. He went on to take high-profile positions, first as the chief executive of the UK insurance group, Prudential, and then as head of global investment bank Credit Suisse. A corporate espionage scandal at the bank led to his resignation in 2020 after a colleague accused Thiam of spying on him. Thiam was cleared of any involvement. After returning to Ivory Coast in 2022, Thiam re-entered politics and rejoined the Democratic Party (PDCI), the former governing party which held power from independence in 1960 until the 1999 coup d'etat, and which is now the major opposition party. In December 2023, the party's delegates overwhelmingly voted for Thiam to be the next leader following the death of former head and ex-President Henri Konan Bedie. At the time, PDCI officials said Thiam represented a breath of fresh air for the country's politics, and many young people appeared ready to back him as the next president. But his ambitions came to a halt on April 22 when a judge ordered his name be struck off the list of contenders because Thiam had taken French nationality in 1987 and automatically lost Ivorian citizenship according to the country's laws. Although the politician renounced his French nationality in February this year, the court ruled he had not done so before registering himself on the electoral roll in 2022, and was thus ineligible to be the party leader, a presidential candidate, or even a voter. Thiam and his lawyers argued that the law is inconsistent. Ivorian footballers on the country's national team, Thiam pointed out in one interview with reporters, are mostly also French nationals, but face no restrictions on holding Ivorian nationality. 'The bottom line is, I was born Ivorian,' Thiam told the BBC in an interview, accusing the government of trying to block what he said is his party's likely success in this year's elections. It is unclear if Thiam can legally make his way back onto the candidate list, but he is trying. In May, he resigned as PDCI president and was almost immediately re-elected with 99 percent of the vote. He has yet to reveal if he will attempt to re-register as a candidate, but has promised to keep up the fight. Thiam has pledged to attract industrial investment to the country as he once did as minister, and to remove the country from the France-backed CFA currency economy that comprises West and Central African countries formerly colonised by France, and sees their currencies pegged to the euro. Meanwhile, other strong candidates include Pascal Affi N'Guessan, 67, a former prime minister and close ally of Gbagbo, who will represent Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI). Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady who is now divorced from Gbagbo, will also run, as the nominee for the Movement of the Capable Generations. She was sentenced to a 20-year term in 2015 on charges of undermining state security, but benefitted from an amnesty law to foster national reconciliation later in 2018.
