Former Ivory Coast president aims to run for re-election from jail

The former president of Ivory Coast in West Africa, who is in jail in the Netherlands awaiting trial for crimes against humanity, is to attempt to re- enter politics from his prison cell, running for the leadership of his party next month and, if successful, running for head of state again next year.

Laurent Gbagbo (69) denies four charges of crimes against humanity, including murder and rape, during five months of bloody post-election clashes between his supporters and those of President Alassane Ouattara in which more than 3,000 people died, between December 2010 and April 2011.

Ouattara was finally declared president by an independent electoral commission but Gbagbo refused to give up office after a decade in power until he was arrested by French UN troops and extradited to The Hague in November 2011, becoming the first head of state taken into International Criminal Court (ICC) custody.

Gbagbo’s party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), is the largest in the country but has not held a general congress for 13 years because of bitter divisions – which look set to be deepened when Gbagbo runs against current party leader Pascal Affi N’Guessan in the middle of next month.

If Gbagbo takes the party leadership then the road is clear for him to run for president next year against his old enemy, with legitimate fears that the outcome could again degenerate into widespread violence – just as his long-awaited trial is due to open.

Were Mr Gbagbo to become president next year it’s likely he would use the same argument currently deployed by Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta: that he should be allowed to remain free as long as he remains in office – an argument dismissed by critics as a recipe for leaders’ impunity.

There have already been calls for Mr Gbagbo’s release – on the unlikely grounds that his presence in the country is essential for promoting national reconciliation.

FPI strategist Boubakar Koné points out that Gbagbo has been detained for almost three years. At this stage, he says, his continued imprisonment must be “illegal”.

He asked: “The ICC says it is investigating and gathering evidence but how much time do they need to investigate? If there is not sufficient evidence to support allegations that he is a criminal then why should he remain in detention?”

The ICC has been criticised for failing to be even-handed in Ivory Coast, specifically for not taking action against any member of the pro-Ouattara forces – despite the insistence of ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that her investigations are impartial.

“The ICC should move swiftly and send a message that nobody is above the law,” said Param-Preet Singh, senior international counsel at Human Rights Watch.