Ivory Coast: Ouattara starts war crimes inquiry

7/20/2011

Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara signed a decree on July 20 establishing a commission of inquiry into crimes committed during the country's violent post-election turmoil, giving it six months to reach conclusions.

A presidential election in November last year plunged the West African nation into violence when former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept his loss and used a medley of soldiers, youth militias and mercenaries to crush dissent.

The power struggle between Gbagbo and Ouattara rekindled a civil war that the election was supposed to resolve, killing 3,000 people and displacing more than a million until Gbagbo was captured by French-backed pro-Ouattara forces in April.

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Radio Netherlands