Laurent Gbagbo, the former president of Ivory Coast, stands before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, arraigned on charges of crimes against humanity. He is the first head of state to be taken into custody by the ICC.
The case is an explosive, divisive issue. That's why we created Views on Gbagbo as an impartial platform for people to share their personal stories about how they have been affected by the violence that erupted in Ivory Coast after the 2010 presidential elections.
You can send us your story by mail (), via Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #RSGbagbo. Please submit text in French. A selection will be published by RNW and shared on social media.
For content in English, stay tuned here: the Africa Desk is sharing highlights under the Views on Gbagbo banner. For content in French, visit the website itself, Regards sur Gbagbo.
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Who introduced weapons in côte d'Ivoire for civilians ?
Who rules in Côte d'Ivoire today ?
==> Ouattara Alassane Drame the dramatist
What ethnic groups where provided weapons ?
What ehtnic group prevails in Côte d'Ivoire today ?
==> ???
GBAGBO is a criminal in Côte d'Ivoire and in Kenya. dixit a Gambian in ICC/Europe.
What a mess !!
You say Justice. I say Devil.
Let's respect ourselves as human beeings. What says the law when such crazy accusations are introduced in a bar ? Tell us !
Antiquity! Darkness! Ridiculous !
Shame to the ICC. With such a budget, they hire Bensouda. What a mess !!!
Gbagbo has made all the concessions from 2002 to 2010 using everything he had in his power as head of state of Côte d'Ivoire to collect all the son and daughters of this country.
He believed in a democratic ideal to the end. Consider:
1. He asked and discussed personally with Guillaume Soro (ie Ouattara since it is he who financed!)
2. He appointed Prime Minister Guillaume Soro (when he was a rebel, he committed an unforgivable sin vis-à-vis the country: Take up arms against its own citizens under the guise of injustice. Yet nothing justifies such act!)
3. He agreed to build a reliable electoral system, biometric letting France choose the operator because they were obviously very "democratically / economically / strategically" interested!
4. He signed a general armistice for all the Bedie's prisoners with his "accursed ivority!"
5. He accepted the two-round elections
6. He accepted a televised debate while everyone knows that any outgoing President is always disadvantaged in such a scenario in the conext of African countries where war culture and illiterate interpretations are the rule
...
I can quote up to 100 things Gbagbo made to bring peace in his country, peace stolen by Ouattara c/o Soro Guillaume.
In addition to this, we must see the past, the injustices MR GBAGBO suffered in Côte d'Ivoire since Houphouet with Ouattara and Bedié as devil sons (...), and HE HAS NEVER TAKE THE WEAPONS OR CALLED TO TAKE THE WEAPONS!
Today He is treated as a criminal! That the world is unfair!!
COURAGE MR PRESIDENT! We Win or we Win! We. Peace Seekers ! GOD IS ALIVE!
I fear that the ICC will be prejudiced against Gbagbo because part of his defense seems to raise serious doubts on the integrity of the United Nations (through its representation in Cote d'Ivoire). And beyond that, his defense also seems to offer a conspiracy theory (involving France)--which, though it might happen to be true, seems at first to be harder to believe than its alternatives. Other than that, I think the prosecutor's case against him is rather weak and often far-fetched. There was no evidence of any foreseeable causal link between any specific order or clear modus operandi of Gbagbo and any of the events that are placed under his responsibility. In fact, the responsibility of his army for those events has not been established beyond anything like a reasonable doubt (or even by clear and convincing evidence, to use an even lower standard of American jurisprudence--with which I am familiar). It seems to me that most of the evidence presented against him is either more conclusory than probative, or merely suggestive (for example: evidence of the belligerent mindset of his partisans during the crisis). In any case, I am not familiar with ICC procedure, much less at this stage of the proceedings. But I suspect a case like this would have been thrown out in an American court. At the very least, the Court should be mindful in a weak case like this of not feeding a double-standard. If Gbagbo is put on trial and punished, then it seems the entire political leadership of Cote d'Ivoire (with the exception of the weak Mr. Bedie) should be put on trial and punished to. But that would be a political disaster for not just Cote d'Ivoire but the entirety of West Africa. This goes to show, perhaps, that this crisis had neither a military nor a judiciary solution but a political solution. That's why people should have taken the time to allow all parties to sit down after the elections, and have their electoral fraud claims thoroughly studied.
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