Email

Africa: Hague court says Ivory Coast suspect Ble Goude in its custody

Charles Ble Goude, minister of youth and employment in Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo's government, speaks during a rally with youths in Yopougon, Abidjan December 29, 2010. REUTERS/ Thierry Gouegnon

(Reuters) – Charles Ble Goude, wanted by the International Criminal Court in connection with a wave of violence after Ivory Coast’s 2010 elections, is in the court’s custody and is on his way to its jail in The Hague, the court said on Saturday.

Charles Ble Goude, minister of youth and employment in Ivory Coast’s incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo’s government, speaks during a rally with youths in Yopougon, Abidjan December 29, 2010. REUTERS/ Thierry Gouegnon

The Ivory Coast government said on Thursday that it would hand over Ble Goude, a close ally of former president Laurent Gbagbo, who is already in detention in The Hague awaiting trial on similar crimes against humanity charges.

The court’s prosecutors accuse Ble Goude of helping orchestrate the wave of violence in 2010, which they say Gbagbo unleashed in order to avoid relinquishing his grip on power after losing elections.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; editing by Andrew Roche)

Related posts

UK Conservative Party picks Kemi Badenoch as its new leader in wake of election defeat

US election: what a Trump victory would mean for the rest of the world

US-Africa relations under Biden: a mismatch between talk and action