Ivory Coast President urges ICC to probe allegations of serious human rights crimes

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara asked the International Criminal Court to probe allegations of serious human rights crimes during Ivory Coast violent post-election power struggle.

In a letter to ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo dated May 3, Ouattara said "it appears that the Ivorian justice system, at the moment, is not best placed to consider the most serious crimes committed over the recent months, and that any attempts to bring to justice those who are most responsible would risk running into all kinds of difficulties." He said he was asking the ICC to look into reported abuses from November 28, the date of the disputed election.

A Justice Ministry source told Reuters that it would continue to pursue separate investigations of former President Laurent Gbagbo for other crimes, leaving the most serious allegations of human rights violations for the ICC. "The fact that President Ouattara is asking the International Criminal Court to probe these crimes does not block the national justice system from doing its own investigations," he said, on condition of anonymity. "There will be investigations in Ivory Coast on, for example, economic crimes."