Presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara's prime minister called Thursday for the International Criminal Court to send a mission to the Ivory Coast to prosecute crimes during the deadly political stand-off.

"We're waiting for the ICC to be able to send a mission to Ivory Coast, establish individuals' responsibility and for all those involved in any way to be transferred to The Hague," Guillaume Soro told France's Liberation daily.

The call came amid deadly political violence during the tense stand-off between the two men who claim to have won Ivory Coast's November 28 presidential election, Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo.

At least 50 people have been killed, according to the United Nations.

Gbagbo is clinging defiantly to power despite worldwide calls to quit, while ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said The Hague-based court was monitoring reports of abuses by his security forces.

"We really hope that the international community doesn't take too long to realise that Gbagbo's place is not in the presidential palace but at the International Criminal Court in The Hague," Soro said.

Ivory Coast is not a signatory to the Rome Statute setting up the ICC, but the court or the UN Security Council can call for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity to be investigated.

Ocampo has said he would bring charges against anyone who attacks UN peacekeepers or incites atrocities in Ivory Coast, singling out Gbagbo ally Charles Ble Goude who he said risked inciting atrocities through his hardline messages to supporters.

The ICC is also monitoring reports of killings and abductions of Ouattara's supporters.
 

Source: AFP