Former Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo appeared before the International Criminal Court on December 5, following his arrest in Côte d’Ivoire in accordance with the arrest warrant issued by the Court in November.
On March 29, at least 800 people were killed in the town of Duékoué. It remains unclear who committed the violence. Numerous corpses are strewn throughout the neighborhood; an estimated 250 displaced children are living in the surrounding forest; and more than 15,000 displaced people continue to seek safety inside the confines of the Roman Catholic mission in Duékoué.
Amidst the turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East, an attempted peaceful, democratic transfer of power in Côte d’Ivoire—through elections—is increasingly collapsing into civil war, with devastating consequences for civilians.
As the political standoff in Côte d’Ivoire enters its seventh week, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect issued a second statement on Wednesday about human rights violations in the aftermath of disputed presidential elections. “We remain gravely concerned about the possibility of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing in Côte d’Ivoire. We believe that urgent steps should be taken, in line with the 'responsibility to protect', to avert the risk of genocide and ensure the protection of those at risk of mass atrocities,” the statement said.
