At the time, Gbagbo criticised Houphouet-Boigny for his attempt at 'immortality'.Of course, the 1980s were a time of long-life African presidents: Omar Bongo of Gabon was in power for 42 years, General Moussa Traore of Mali for 21, and over in North Africa, there were Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi.At the time Western powers propped up one-party or dictator states as ea