So when we are going to bomb the Ivory Coast?

Top Gbagbo regime general detained

Abidjan - A general considered one of the most powerful officers in the regime of Ivory Coast's ex-strongman Laurent Gbagbo has been detained over alleged robbery and a probe into a mass grave, prosecutors said on Thursday.

General Georges Guiai Bi Poin led the much-feared CECOS special operations unit that was tasked with securing the economic capital Abidjan under ex- president Gbagbo.

The unit, a crucial security organ, was linked to scores of rights abuses and accused by critics of using brutal tactics.

The general was arrested on Saturday in the context of an inquiry into a "mass grave" discovered by authorities, said a statement sent to AFP by prosecutors in Abidjan.

The statement also said Guiai Bi Poin was placed in custody and charged in connection with "an economic infraction".

The general's lawyer, Raoul Gohi-Bi, told AFP his client "is being held [in Abidjan] for violent armed robbery, misappropriation of public funds [and] damaging the national economy".

President Alassane Ouattara has vowed to unite the country after emerging victorious from a bitter and violent political standoff with his rival Gbagbo, which left some 3 000 people dead.

Top Gbagbo regime general detained : News24: Africa: News
 
Even if we did anything with our military just for the sake of helping the people, we'd still get accused of going after oil or diamonds or whatever else they may have. And you'll also get protests from Americans that this country 'never attacked us' or 'who is going to pay for the war'.
 
Is Ivory Coast really a great model for international intervention?

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Before he got to the Palestinian statehood part of his United Nations speech today, President Obama mentioned the West African nation of Ivory Coast as a prime example of international intervention done right. He applauded the will of the "international community" to get involved in a messy situation.

The fact that French forces, in cooperation with the UN, played a pivotal role in ousting renegade President Laurent Gbagbo in April led to a flurry of anti-interventionist commentary about ex-colonial meddling in African affairs.

And if the Obama administration sees Ivory Coast as the perfect argument for international intervention, the country's president sees it differently.

It turns out Alassane Ouattara, sworn in as president of the Ivory Coast after a violent showdown with his predecessor, is no fan of the African Union.

He has in the past criticized the AU for dithering while the stalemate dragged for months after he won last November's election. He spoke yesterday of the AU's failure during a meeting with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

“ECOWAS [The Economic Community of West African States] can mobilize troops and could have really intervened into the scene” – just as it had once threatened to do – “but the matter was taken to the African Union," said Ouattara, arguing that that AU has no capacity to intervene militarily on the ground. "We gave it time, from November till about February/March. We had the capacity, with my associates, to really remove Gbagbo by force. So we have a dilemma. Should we wait for the ECOWAS and the UN, or should we move on, on our own?”

"We finally made the decision, after the African Union steps did not come to fruition, we decided to move on,” Ouattara concluded. “In three days actually, the army took over the whole country, except in Abidjan, where Gbagbo had concentrated his force.”

Ouattara still needed the help from the UN and the French to take back the capital, and take out Gbagbo. And maybe that final assault needed all the institutional maneuvering that came before it.

Thomas J. Bassett, a professor of geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Scott Straus, associate professor of political science and international studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, made that point this summer in a piece that ran in the magazine Foreign Affairs.

The key message of their article is this: The AU and the regional body ECOWAS consistently backed Ouattara throughout most of the crisis – a notable fact because prior to this, no one would have accused either group of consistency.

That commitment to honoring Ouattara's victory at the ballot box, in turn, “shrank the space for diplomatic maneuver for Gbagbo,” which made his life harder not only in the circles of international power brokering, but on the ground: The Central Bank of West Africa, which backs the country’s currency, cut off Gbagbo’s money supply, argued Mr. Bassett. The UN Security Council unanimously approved the military action that helped take him out.

Is Ivory Coast really a great model for international intervention? - CSMonitor.com
 
I Coast wants suspects in Ghana arrested

Accra - Ivory Coast's president on Thursday urged Ghana to carry out arrest warrants issued over his country's post-vote conflict as he visited the neighbouring nation where allies of Laurent Gbagbo have fled.

Alassane Ouattara also called on Ivorians in Ghana to return home, with thousands having taken refuge in the country during the conflict, and sought to reassure them that those who had done nothing wrong would not be prosecuted.

A joint statement following the Ivorian leader's talks with Ghana President John Atta Mills said Ouattara had made the request regarding arrest warrants linked to the crisis that the UN says left some 3 000 people dead.

Dozens of figures of the former Gbagbo regime have been detained in Ivory Coast, including Gbagbo himself, but a number of his political and military allies have taken refuge in Accra, including those targeted by arrest warrants in Abidjan.

"President Alassane Ouattara made a request for Ghana to consider the implementation of the mandate to freeze accounts of and effect the arrest warrants issued against those persons presumed to be guilty of criminal action committed during the Ivorian post-electoral crisis," the statement said.

I Coast wants suspects in Ghana arrested: News24: Africa: News
 
This situation is not comforting. I think the Ivorian refugees will stay put. Which may be a good thing.

What he can get from Ghana is an assurance that the refugees will not cause problems.

the Ouattara forces managed their half of the country quite well during the troubles. Ivory Coast may have a chance for prosperity again.
 
This situation is not comforting. I think the Ivorian refugees will stay put. Which may be a good thing.

What he can get from Ghana is an assurance that the refugees will not cause problems.

the Ouattara forces managed their half of the country quite well during the troubles. Ivory Coast may have a chance for prosperity again.

If I were one of the refugees I would stay put too until I see more of a guarantee that things will be reasonably safe and go back to normal, I do hope things in the IC can get better.
 
US Encourages Participation in Ivory Coast Poll

A U.S. official is encouraging Ivory Coast's opposition to participate in upcoming parliamentary elections after the party of the former strongman threatened to boycott the poll.

U.S. deputy assistant secretary Daniel Baer says he hopes the party of former strongman Laurent Gbagbo will participate in the poll scheduled for Dec. 11. He spoke Friday after meeting with opposition party members in the West African nation.

He says the U.S. will give $3 million to encourage the poll is held democratically and to support poll monitors.

Ivory Coast held the first presidential election in a decade last year. Legislative elections were to follow, but they were put on hold when Gbagbo refused to accept his loss, plunging the country into months of violence.

US Encourages Participation in Ivory Coast Poll - ABC News
 
Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast Former President, On International Criminal Court Wanted List

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ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Ivory Coast's former strongman, who refused to accept his loss in last year's election and nearly dragged the country into civil war in a bid to stay in power.

Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo has been under house arrest for the past seven months, secluded in a tiny village in the country's far north ever since he was ousted by internationally backed forces.

Paris-based Gbagbo lawyer Emmanuel Altit said the International Criminal Court issued the order Tuesday to his client through Ivory Coast state prosecutors. In Abidjan, Gbagbo spokesman Kone Katinan confirmed that he had received a telephone call Tuesday saying a team from The Hague was coming to transport the former ruler to the Netherlands.

The ICC's move, which comes almost exactly a year to the day after Ivory Coast's disputed presidential election, threatens to stoke lingering divisions in this country that was brought to the brink of civil war by the election standoff.

If he is transferred to The Hague, Gbagbo will become the first former head of state to be taken into custody by the international tribunal. The development was applauded by human rights groups that have collected hundreds of pages of testimony from victims of Gbagbo's forces. But they also cautioned that it sends the message of victor's justice, because grave abuses were also committed by forces loyal to the country's democratically elected leader, Alassane Ouattara.

"While the Gbagbo camp fueled the violence, forces on both sides have been repeatedly implicated in grave crimes. Victims of abuse meted out by forces loyal to President Ouattara (also) deserve to see justice done," said Elise Keppler, senior counsel to Human Rights Watch.

Gbagbo came to power in a flawed election a decade ago, and then failed to hold elections when his first five-year term expired. His loss in the election last November was confirmed by a team of United Nations observers.

During the four-month standoff that ensued, his forces are accused of systematically killing opponents and shelling neighborhoods, as well as using tanks to open fire on unarmed women demonstrators.

Ouattara's army seized control of the country with the help of United Nations and French airstrikes, forcing Gbagbo to surrender on April 11. In the march on Abidjan, Ouattara's forces are accused of torching villages, gunning down civilians and gang raping women in regions of the country known to have voted in large numbers for the ex-president.

A move to prosecute Gbagbo threatens to unleash further tensions between backers and opponents of the ex-president. Gbagbo still won nearly half the vote in the presidential election even though he ultimately lost to Ouattara.

Laurent Gbagbo, Ivory Coast Former President, On International Criminal Court Wanted List
 

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^^^ The Day of Arrest ^^^​

"The ICC is going against a report by the UN high representative for human rights . . . which said Gbagbo does not threaten Ivory Coast's stability so does not need to be transferred," she added.

"If it is true that he was the one who ordered these crimes, then he should pay for them," Ferdinand Ahiba, a teacher, told Reuters TV in Abidjan's palm-lined streets.

The ICC is currently handling 11 cases, including the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya, alleged war crimes committed in the Central African Republic, and Sudan's Darfur region.

They are handling a lot of cases indeed.

ICC issues warrant for I.Coast's Gbagbo: Lawyer

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Someday the juggling might stop. Then again, it may not.
 

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