I Coast launches probe into poll conflict crime
Abidjan: Ivory Coast has announced that
it was setting up a national commission to investigate the crimes committed during the bloody post-election crisis that
wracked the country.
The government led by President Alassane Ouattara made
the decision at a cabinet meeting, said a statement yesterday
from spokesman Bruno Nabagne Kone.
The "national commission of inquiry is to shed light
on all the human rights violations committed during the
post-electoral crisis," said the statement.
Ouattara was sworn in late last month after a
protracted and violent political crisis sparked by his rival
Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to accept defeat following the
country's November election.
He had already promised that no crimes committed
during the conflict would go unpunished, no matter who
committed them, and asked The Hague-based International
Criminal Court to investigate the most serious violations.
But yesterday's announcement comes on the heels of
allegations from Human Rights Watch yesterday that the Abidjan
authorities were only investigating abuses committed by
Gbagbo's fighters.
UN investigators said on Friday that they had found
evidence of possible crimes against humanity by forces from
both sides.
Human Rights Watch said no one from Ouattara's camp
had yet been arrested for abuses in the post-poll conflict.