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ICC begins Ivory Coast war crimes probe
The International Criminal Court‘s (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said up to six people will be probed for involvement in post-election atrocities in Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire).
Moreno-Ocampo, who arrived Friday pledging an “impartial” investigation, said three to six people would be investigated.
“But we don’t know who they are,” he added after meeting with President Alassane Ouattra, Justice Minister Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio, former prime minister Charles Konan Banny, who now heads a national reconciliation panel — and Abidjan’s civil and military prosecutors.
Judges at the ICC, based at The Hague, appointed Moreno-Ocampo to mount an inquiry into the violence that killed more than 3,000 people during a five-month standoff after last November’s elections in the world’s top cocoa grower.
They ruled on October 3 that there was evidence that both sides in the conflict committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, supporters of now President Ouattara and fighters loyal to his political rival, longtime leader Laurent Gbagbo.
They said pro-Gbagbo forces hired some 4,500 mercenaries, including fighters from neighbouring Liberia, and armed them.
Gbagbo’s troops also attacked UNOCI, the United Nations peace-keeping force in the Ivory Coast. Between 700 and 1,048 people were killed by pro-Gbagbo forces, according to figures given by the prosecutor’s office.
Troops loyal to Ouattara are accused of attacking civilians in Abidjan and and western Ivory Coast, particularly in the town of Duekoue, the judges said.
“The material indicates that pro-Ouattara forces targeted civilians who were perceived to support Laurent Gbagbo and the attacks were directed against specific ethnic communities,” the judges had said.
“We’ll be totally impartial,” Moreno-Ocampo said Saturday, after meeting leading members of Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party.
“We’ll focus the investigation on the most odious crimes and the most responsible, to prevent violence and ensure Cote d’Ivoire to move ahead,” he said, using the French name of the former French colony in west Africa.
Gbagbo refused to give up power after losing the elections to Ouattara.
Pro-Ouattara forces seized Gbagbo in April and has been under house arrest in the north of the country since.
Copyright 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.