Cote D'Ivoire's Gbagbo rejects ICC charges

by James Tweedie, Thursday January 28 2016

Former Cote D’Ivoire president Laurent Gbagbo pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity at the start of his trial at the Hague on Thursday.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told a panel of three judges that Ivorian Popular Front leader Mr Gbagbo and his former youth minister Charles Ble Goude had ordered attacks on opposition party supporters in 2011 order to keep power.

But Mr Gbagbo's supporters gathered outside the Netherlands court to denounce the proceedings as a show trial, saying he was being punished for standing up to former colonial power France.

Mr Gbagbo was overthrown by Rally of the Republicans candidate — and former International Monetary Fund deputy managing director — Alassane Ouattara after months of street violence following the disputed 2010 elections.

On December 2 2010, four days after the final round of voting, Ivorian Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Chairman Youssouf Bakayoko announced provisional results showing that Mr Ouattara had won.

But Mr Gbagbo disputed Mr Bakayoko’s announcement, made at Mr Ouattara’s campaign headquarters with no other members of the IEC present.

The Constitutional Council — the legitimate authority — declared Mr Gbagbo the winner after annulling votes from seven northern regions, claiming polling was marred by intimidation by Mr Outtara’s forces.

But the UN, the US and European nations — most importantly former colonial occupier France — backed Mr Ouattara.

Attempts by former South African president Thabo Mbeki to mediate between the two sides failed, and ensuing violent clashes between their supporters left some 3,000 dead [1,000 according to the Amnesty statement].

In his meeting with Mbeki, Bakayoko claimed that he went to that hotel to announce the results because "he felt it would not be safe for him to speak from the IEC headquarters".

On April 10 2011 Mr Ouattara’s militias attacked Mr Gbagbo’s residence in Abidjan. UN and French helicopters fired on heavy weapons inside the compound, ostensibly to prevent them from being used on those outside.

The next day French special forces stormed the building and seized Mr Gbagbo, handing him over to his enemies.

The newly-installed president vowed to cooperate with the ICC in prosecuting all those responsible for the internecine violence following the elections, but

UK-based human rights campaign Amnesty International yesterday welcomed the trial of Mr Gbagbo and Mr Goude.

But it said it was “hugely worrying” that investigations into crimes by Ouattara loyalists had been suspended due to lack of funds.

“Prosecutions have been largely focused on those who had supported former President Gbagbo,” an Amnesty statement said.

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