Laurent Gbagbo

• Ivory Coast's Gbagbo makes first International Criminal Court appearance

  Former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo was making his first appearance before the International Criminal Court on Monday, as his lawyers called his arrest and transfer to the court French "neocolonialism."

• Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo is captured

  After a week of heavy fighting, forces backing Ivory Coast's internationally recognized leader on Monday arrested strongman Laurent Gbagbo who had refused to leave the presidency despite losing elections more than four months earlier.The dispute over the presidency had pushed the world's largest cocoa producer to the brink of a renewed civil war, w...

• UN, French fire on Gbagbo residence in Ivory Coast

  United Nations and French helicopters fired rockets on strongman Laurent Gbagbo's residence on Sunday in an assault the U.N. said was to retaliate for attacks by his forces on U.N. headquarters and civilians.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had authorized the strikes, accusing Gbagbo of using heavy weapons against Ivory Coast civilians an...

• In bunker, Ivory's Coast's Gbagbo plays final hand

  Ivory Coast's strongman Laurent Gbagbo tried to hang on to power for one more day on Wednesday from inside a bunker encircled on all sides by soldiers loyal to his rival. Diplomats said he had sent emissaries to negotiate, only to then refuse the proposals put before him.Although Gbagbo is cornered and his army is rapidly disbanding, getting him ou...

• France in talks on surrender of Ivory Coast strongman

  The French government said Tuesday that it was helping negotiate the surrender of Ivory Coast's strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, a day after the United Nations and France struck targets at his residence, his offices and two of his military bases in a significant escalation of the international intervention into the political crisis engulfing the nation.F...

• UN imposes sanctions on Ivory Coast's Gbagbo

  The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution demanding an immediate end to the escalating violence in Ivory Coast. It also imposes sanctions on Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to relinquish the presidency.Wednesday's council vote comes five days after France and Nigeria introduced a draft resolution expressing "grave concern" that ...

• Fierce fighting erupts at Ivory Coast border

  An official says heavy fighting has broken out near Ivory Coast's border with Liberia.The deputy director of the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission said he heard the sounds of explosions from the Ivory Coast side of the border. At least one mortar shell fell on the Liberian side.A former Liberian fighter who was reached by tel...

• Ivory Coast president kept prisoner in hotel

  The newly elected president of this troubled republic in Africa's tropics cannot leave his hotel. And neither can the linens on which he sleeps -- except by helicopter.They are flown out to be dry cleaned across town and flown back at night, just like everything else that comes or goes from the resort hotel where Alassane Ouattara took refuge last ...

• UN: Forces obstruct Ivory Coast mass grave probe

  The United Nations accused incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo's security forces of blocking access to mass graves Thursday, saying investigators believe as many as 80 bodies may be in one building that U.N. personnel are being kept from entering.Gbagbo's government has repeatedly denied that such graves exist, and the interior minister has gone on sta...

• Ivory Coast: West African leaders give final ultimatum to incumbent President

  West African leaders delivered a final ultimatum to Ivory Coast's incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo in person on Tuesday after threatening a military ouster if he doesn't accept an offer to go into exile in a neighbouring country a month after the disputed election.The delegation was led by presidents from Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and Benin, who r...

• Political unrest at Ivory Coast

  Ivory Coast's incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo defied calls to step aside and hand over power to his political rival, Alassane Ouattara on Sunday, saying he was only going to respect and abide "by the Ivorians' vote.""I want the truth. Ivorians voted on November 28th, who was elected? That is it," he told AP Television.The United Nations certified ...

• Ivory Coast state TV signal cut off in some areas

  Ivory Coast state television disappeared from the airwaves outside the nation's largest city late Thursday, a blow to the incumbent president's attempts to cling to power in the bloody aftermath of an election most of the world says he lost.Also Thursday, the U.N. General Assembly formally recognized incumbent Laurent Gbagbo's challenger, Alassane ...