ICC to investigate Ivory Coast violence
Soldiers of the Forces Republicaines de Cote d’Ivoire (FRCI) of Ivory Coast’s new President Alassane Ouattara carry weapons on April 27, 2011 in Abidjan during an attack against a militia group that helped drive his rival Laurent Gbagbo from power. The ICC will be investigating the killings that followed the disputed election in the West African state.
NAIROBI, Kenya — The Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague Violence will investigate the post election violence. Judges at the world tribunal gave Luis Moreno-Ocampo the go-ahead to open an investigation into months of killings that followed disputed elections last year.
Both sides are suspected of atrocities and ethnic massacres committed after the incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down following his defeat by Alassane Ouattara. Thousands were killed in the brief resumption of civil war that rocked the West African state, and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes.
There are reasonable grounds to suspect that crimes against humanity, attacks on civilians, rape, torture and other crimes were committed, said the ICC judges when authorizing the investigation to begin.
The Ivory Coast investigation brings the number of cases being looked into by the ICC to seven. Critics have accused the court of racism pointing out that all seven cases under investigation are in Africa. The ICC is investigating situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Central African Republic; Darfur, Sudan; Uganda; Republic of Kenya; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; and Ivory Coast.
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