Tag: Gbagbo

Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo appeared before International Criminal Court judges for the first time Monday over his role in the deadly aftermath of...

Ivory Coast’s deposed former leader Laurent Gbagbo urged supporters on Monday to drop political quarrels for now and help the West African country revive...

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo was arrested on Monday after French armoured vehicles closed in on the compound where he has been holed up in a bunker. A column of more than 30 French armoured vehicles moved in on Gbagbo's residence in central Abidjan after helicopter gunships attacked the compound overnight. "Yes, he has been arrested," Affoussy Bamba, a spokeswoman for Ouattara, told Reuters. Earlier a Gbagbo adviser in Paris had told Reuters that French special forces had

ABIDJAN - Forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, besieged in Ivory Coast's main city, have retaken ground and are edging closer to where rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara is holed up, the United Nations said.
UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters on Friday that Gbagbo's forces had used a lull in fighting for peace talks as a ruse to reinforce their positions. "We understand that since that time, the forces of Mr. Gbagbo ... have regained terrain and they have

ABIDJAN - Forces loyal to Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara attacked Laurent Gbagbo's residence Wednesday, determined to remove him from his bunker and end his hold on power.
Gunfire erupted near Gbagbo's home and the presidential palace, witnesses said, amid a fresh assault to force him to end his decade-long rule of the world's number one cocoa producer after losing November elections. "We are going to take Laurent Gbagbo out of his hole and

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo hunkered down in a bunker at his home Tuesday after being cornered by his arch rival's followers, as his own forces silenced their weapons and asked for a ceasefire.
Having resisted calls to cede power to internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara for four months, Gbagbo was now trying to strike a deal to quit, according to the former colonial power France. "We are today I hope on the brink of convincing Mr Gbagbo to

ABIDJAN - Forces loyal to Ivory Coast's presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara launched a major assault on the presidential palace on Tuesday, driving home their campaign to oust Laurent Gbagbo after U.N. and French helicopters left his military bases in flames.
In a sign his support was crumbling, Alcide Djedje, Gbagbo's foreign minister, fled to the residence of the French ambassador in Abidjan, an Ivorian source said.
Sustained machinegun and heavy weapons fire rang

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo desperately clung to power Friday as explosions and gunfire rocked Abidjan as forces loyal to leader-in-waiting Alassane Ouattara closed in on his last bastion.
While the 65-year-old strongman remained silent, his whereabouts unknown, a close aide said he has no intention of giving himself up. Internationally recognised president Ouattara's forces swept into the economic capital Thursday with little resistance from Gbagbo's army.
As the

ABIDJAN - Up to 15 members of the security forces were killed in the latest gun battles between supporters of the rival claimants to the presidency of Ivory Coast, an Ivorian army source told Reuters on Wednesday. The source, a military commander, said paramilitary police loyal to the incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo, were ambushed on Tuesday evening by supporters of his rival Alassane Ouattara.
"We're talking about 10 to 15 deaths, essentially gendarmes (paramilitary police) who

ABIDJAN - The African Union chief, Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, is due in the Ivory Coast to meet rivals both claiming the presidency, a diplomat said, in another bid to end the impasse.
Mutharika is expected in Abidjan for talks with Alassane Ouattara, who is the internationally recognised winner of November 28 elections, and Laurent Gbagbo, who has resisted demands to step down. He "is coming to see the two presidents," the African diplomat told AFP without giving

PARIS/ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast's presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara said on Thursday he had proof his rival, Laurent Gbagbo, had instigated post-election violence and ordered foreign agents to carry out killings.
There was no immediate reaction from Gbagbo's camp but the United Nations said the confirmed death toll from the violence had risen to 210 and condemned the blocking of investigators trying to probe reports of further killings.
Ivory Coast has been in turmoil

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president accused incumbent Laurent Gbagbo of masterminding a campaign of rape and murder of his supporters as the deadly stand-off's toll rose further.
Alassane Ouattara, besieged by Gbagbo troops since the world said he won a November presidential run-off, told Europe 1 radio that violence allegedly carried out by Liberian mercenaries on his rival's behalf left Gbagbo with blood on his hands.
"Many Ivorians have been

ABIDJAN - Pressure ratcheted up on Sunday on Ivory Coast's defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo to quit even as his rival faced the threat of a mob attack on his internationally recognised government's headquarters.
Gbagbo's notorious "Street General", Minister for Youth Charles Ble Goude, had urged Ivorian youths to rise up after the New Year to seize control of Alassane Ouattara's headquarters in the waterfront Golf Hotel resort. But as the African Union mediator in the crisis, Kenyan

LAGOS - West African regional military chiefs have set in motion plans to oust Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo if negotiations fail, a Nigerian defence spokesman said Friday.
The decision was reached at a meeting in Abuja of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) attended by military chiefs from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Togo, Niger and Nigeria. "The committee of chiefs of defence staff met on Tuesday and Wednesday to put machinery

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo on Sunday appeared bent on clinging to power, warning West African leaders any attempt to oust him could ruin the regional economy and trigger civil war.
On Tuesday, three West African presidents will visit Abidjan in a bid to convince the defiant 65-year-old leader to step down, a last-ditch plea that comes backed by a threat of military intervention. But Gbagbo, who claims to have won last month's presidential election, is in no

BRUSSELS: European Union travel bans on defiant Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo and his powerful wife Simone entered force Wednesday, alongside another 17 influential figures.
A diplomatic source told AFP that ambassadors of the 27 EU nations completed legal procedures allowing the visa ban to take effect. Member states are looking at "lengthening the list" as well as extending sanctions to include asset freezes.
The action came as Ivory Coast's deadly political

ABIDJAN - Defiant Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo dug in his heels on Tuesday under a barrage of international criticism, as the United Nations defended its hard-pressed peacekeepers and threatened sanctions.
Both Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara claim to have won last month's Ivory Coast presidential election, but UN monitors and almost all of the world community recognised the challenger and has demanded Gbagbo step down.
Furious, the 65-year-old strongman ordered