THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL Court is to investigate allegations of war crimes taking place in Ivory Coast following last year’s disputed general election.
Incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara following the 28 November 2010 elections – in the months of violence that followed, at least 3,000 people died and more than 100 rapes were reported, said the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
Moreno-Ocampo requested the right to open an investigation last June, alleging that both supporters of Gbagbo and Ouattara had committed war crimes, the Guardian reports.
Gbagbo was captured in Abidjan in April and is currently being detained in the north of the country.
It will be the seventh case undertaken by the ICC – all of them in Africa.
Reuters reports that although Ivory Coast is not one of the member countries covered by the ICC, it has accepted the jurisdiction of the court.
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