Ivory Coast asks ICC to investigate human rights crimes

BBC News, 19 May 2011

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Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate allegations of serious human rights crimes committed during the country's recent turmoil.

Thousands of people have sought refuge in and
around a church in Duekoue

This was because "Ivorian justice [was] not at this time best placed to reveal the most serious crimes", he said.

An estimated 3,000 people were killed during the four-month election dispute.

More than 25,000 people are still living in the grounds of a church in the western city of Duekoue.

They say they fear for their safety because they belong to an ethnic group seen as loyal to former President Laurent Gbagbo, who was arrested last month after refusing to accept defeat in last year's elections.

After taking power, Mr Ouattara promised that crimes committed by all sides during the dispute would be investigated.

Several hundred people were reportedly massacred in Duekoue during the unrest.

People in the church are living there in desperate conditions.

"They are living in tents and it is the rainy season in the west of Cote d'Ivoire right now. When it rains, they have to all run away and sometimes they have to sleep standing up," reports the BBC's Abdourahmane Dia, who visited the church.

A number of mass graves have been found in the area.