Ivorians headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in local elections, which President Alassane Ouattara’s government hopes will pave the way for a fresh political start after years of unrest. Ex-president Laurent Gbagbo’s party boycotted the ballot.
Two successive attacks within little over a week in western Ivory Coast have fanned fears of renewed tensions between government troops and militia leaders loyal to ousted former President Laurent Gbagbo. Thousands living in Blolequin, the largest town nearest the violence, have decided to flee. Two rural villages were burned in the fighting. Many farmers have lost much of their crops and now live in fear of further attacks.
Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo told the International Criminal Court that he had always “fought for democracy” on Thursday, the last day of a hearing on whether he can be tried for masterminding a bloody 2010 election stand-off.
Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo appeared before the International Criminal Court on Tuesday to face four counts of crimes against humanity as judges prepare to decide whether he can be tried for masterminding a bloody 2010 election standoff.
Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is appearing before the International Criminal Court at The Hague this Tuesday. The former head of state was arrested after refusing to admit defeat in the country's 2010 election. The crisis sparked by that vote lead many Ivorians to flee the country. Nearly two-thirds of them have now returned but their exile is proving problematic, especially when they cannot get back their land.
François Hollande was said to be a president who did not know or care much about Africa. But eight months after his election, he has sent French troops to the Central African Republic, Somalia and Mali - admittedly, for different reasons. So is he, like his predecessors, a victim of the "Françafrique" virus, the name used to define the shady and troubled relationship between France and its former colonies in Africa? Or is he acting differently and ushering in a new era in those fraught ties?
Major Jean-Noel Abehi, a key figure in former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo’s security forces, has been arrested in Ghana and extradited back to Ivory Coast, a security official said on Tuesday.
Ivorian authorities said Friday that Charles Blé Goudé, the fugitive youth leader who served under former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo, was detained in Ivory Coast following his arrest in Ghana. The Gbago regime fell nearly two years ago.
Four former French soldiers say they were acting under orders when they killed a wounded prisoner in Ivory Coast in 2005. Firmin Mahe was suffocated with a plastic bag as he was being transferred in a military vehicle.
The International Criminal Court has unsealed an arrest warrant for Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo for crimes against humanity, the court revealed Thursday. Former president Laurent Gbagbo is in ICC custody awaiting trial.
