Ex-Ivorian ruler being extradited

Laurent Gbagbo was believed to be in the Netherlands on the way to a Hague court.

By Laura Burke and Rukmini Callimachi, Associated Press
Posted: November 30, 2011

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - The nation's former strongman, who nearly dragged his country into civil war in a bid to retain power, is being extradited to the International Criminal Court after the issuance of a warrant for his arrest, his spokesman said Tuesday.

Former President Laurent Gbagbo had been under house arrest in the village of Korhogo more than 300 miles north of Abidjan since being ousted by internationally backed forces seven months ago.

A plane believed to be carrying Gbagbo landed in the early-morning hours Wednesday in the Netherlands ahead of his transfer to the court in the Hague. The Ivorian plane taxied to a hangar where it was met by a convoy of black cars. The court did not immediately confirm that Gbagbo was on the plane.

In Abidjan, Gbagbo spokesman Kone Katinan confirmed that he had left the village on a special flight headed to the Hague.

Gbagbo's Paris-based attorney, Emmanuel Altit, said he had filed an appeal to stop the international arrest warrant issued Tuesday through Ivory Coast state prosecutors, but acknowledged that if it was not granted, the ex-president would be transferred overnight.

The development, which comes almost a year to the day after Ivory Coast's disputed election, was applauded by victims of Gbagbo's regime and by human-rights groups because of the signal it sends against impunity.

Gbagbo will become the first former head of state to be taken into custody by the tribunal since its founding in 2002. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted, though he refuses to surrender, while former Liberian warlord Charles Taylor and the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic have been tried there by special ad hoc tribunals, rather than the international court.

The move could further stoke tension in Ivory Coast, however, because it gives the appearance of victor's justice, since grave abuses were also committed by forces loyal to the country's democratically elected leader, Alassane Ouattara, who enlisted the help of a former rebel group to force Gbagbo from office.

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