Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has announced he will seek a fourth term leading the West African nation, as tensions rise over the exclusion of many heavyweight opposition candidates.

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara says he will seek a fourth term leading the West African nation, which is due to hold elections in October.

The decision of Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara to run for a fourth term risks a return to a past era of "old guard dictator rule," an analyst warned on Wednesday. Ibrahim Anoba, an Africa affairs analyst at the Atlas Network,