Gbagbo loyalists 'no longer a threat' in Ivory Coast (AFP)

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Elements loyal to former Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo are no longer a threat to peace and order in the West African nation, the UN mission chief said on Monday.

"By and large, the ex pro-Gbagbo elements and their supporters are not likely to mount substantial challenges to law and order -- a painful chapter of history in Cote d'Ivoire has been closed," said Choi Young-Jin, who heads the UN mission known as UNOCI.

Choi told the Security Council that the meltdown of Gbagbo supporters "augurs well for the achievement of reconciliation in the country."

The diplomat said that despite the fading of Gbagbo forces, there remains "a need for a rapid restoration of law and order" as a precondition of reconciliation and economic recovery.

He added that in the western part "we see a certain deficit of security" but that "most experts are of the view that there is a positive (economic) recovery in the country."

Choi said the United Nations would work with Ivory Coast on organizing legislative elections set for later this year.

Separately, the Ivory Coast ambassador to the UN, Youssoufou Bamba, indicated that the country "is progressively returning to normal."

Of the estimated 200,000 people displaced by the conflict before the installation of elected President Alassane Ouattara, 60,000 have returned home, while 140,000 are still refugees, many in camps along the Liberian border, according to Bamba.

An estimated 3,000 people died during the standoff after Gbagbo refused to cede power after elections in November won by Ouattara, who was finally inaugurated May 21.

Gbagbo was captured in an underground bunker in Abidjan on April 11 by forces loyal to Ouattara, backed by France and the UN.

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UN: Ivory Coast should act on violations

Alassane Ouattara has urged the ICC to investigate major crimes committed during Ivory Coast's political standoff.The west African nation plunged into bloody chaos after a disputed vote "We need concerted action designed to break the cycle of impunity," U.N. official saysU.N. official expresses concern over violence

(CNN) -- The Ivory Coast should break a cycle of impunity and arrest perpetrators of human rights violations and other abuses after a disputed election last year, a top U.N. official said.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said she is concerned by the violence following the disputed election, including reports of summary executions, rape, torture and the use of children by parties to the conflict.

"We need concerted action designed to break the cycle of impunity, bring perpetrators to justice and rehabilitate victims in their rights and dignity," Pillay said in a statement Wednesday.

The west African nation plunged into bloody chaos after a disputed presidential vote in November.

Incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo defied international calls to step down after he lost the election to Alassane Ouattara.

Forces loyal to Quattara seized the leader in April, essentially ousting him and ending the political stalemate that had raged for four months.

Rights groups have said both sides violated human rights.

"Some of the crimes committed during the post electoral crisis are particularly serious and might well constitute crimes against humanity," said Vitit Muntabhorn, who leads the commission of inquiry into Ivory Coast.

"This can be said for example of the generalized and systematic attacks on communities who were targeted because of their supposed political beliefs or their ethnicity."

More than 300,000 people are still displaced two months after the political crisis was settled, the United Nations refugee agency said this week.

Displaced people are further at risk because they are in areas with food shortages and the threat of disease, heightened by the rainy season,

Ongoing violence has also prevented their return home.

Communal tensions are still high in the southwestern Sassandra region, where more than 280 civilians were killed last month by mercenaries on the run from the commercial capital of Abidjan, the U.N. refugee agency said.

"Many of the dead are buried in mass graves," said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the refugee agency.

About 17,000 people are displaced in that region, including an unknown number still hiding in the forest, she said.

Ouattara has urged the International Criminal Court to investigate major crimes committed during the political standoff.

This month, the United Nations called for investigations after reports of attacks by forces loyal to Ouattara in areas known to support Gbagbo.

"The new government must show zero tolerance for the behavior of some elements of the Republican troops who continue to commit exactions," Muntabhorn said.

Ouattara has said he plans to set up a truth and reconciliation commission.

CNN's Ben Brumfield contributed to this report

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Gbagbo party to shun Ivory Coast government (Reuters)

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivory Coast's former ruling party acknowledged on Wednesday that President Alassane Ouattara had won November's disputed election, but said it would not join a unity government until ex-president Laurent Gbagbo was freed.

The party's interim president, Mamadou Koulibaly, was speaking to journalists after a five-hour closed-door meeting of members of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) in Abidjan.

"The FPI is in no hurry to go there (to a unity government). It can be formed without us and then, when our conditions are met, we will be ready," Koulibaly said. "Conditions of security, of the release of our comrades, must be met, say our activists. Then can we seriously consider joining the government."

Gbagbo's refusal to step down, despite U.N.-certified results showing Ouattara had won the election, triggered a violent standoff culminating in French and U.N. forces bombing Gbagbo's compound, enabling pro-Ouattara troops to seize him.

Ouattara's offer of a unity government is partly aimed at starting a process of national reconciliation after a decade of war, instability, and ethnic division.

But Koulibaly told Radio France International on Tuesday that a "unity government is not necessarily the answer."

"The RHDP (Ouattara's party) won this election against our party, which was in power for 10 years. The RHDP is in power and it can go ahead and create its government, our comrades say," Koulibaly told the journalists on Wednesday.

GBAGBO IN DETENTION

Gbagbo is being held in the north, and Ouattara is unlikely to agree to release him or his top aides. Ouattara wants Gbagbo tried for alleged crimes against humanity committed in the aftermath of his refusal to quit.

His party leader, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, and his deputy, Simone Gbagbo, wife of former president Laurent Gbagbo, are also both under arrest.

Around 3,000 people were killed during the conflict in the world's top cocoa producer and a million more fled their homes in the main city Abidjan alone.

Amnesty International said on Wednesday that forces loyal to both Gbagbo and Ouattara had committed war crimes: [ID:nLDE74N2AR]

"Hundreds of people have been unlawfully killed, often only on the grounds of their ethnicity and presumed political affiliation. Women and adolescents have been victims of sexual violence, including rape, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes."

Ouattara now faces the tough task of balancing reconciliation with justice for those responsible for the most serious crimes.

Ouattara has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the most serious allegations on both sides, which include mass killings, rape, kidnap and executions.

But he also wants a South African-style national truth and reconciliation commission.

"We talk about national reconciliation and truth, but at the same time we talk about justice. Our activists questioned whether it will be real justice or the justice of revenge," Koulibaly said.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Inauguration ends Ivory Coast turmoil

French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, right, arrives Saturday in the Ivory Coast capital for President Alassane Ouattara's inauguration.NEW: Alassane Ouattara is inaugurated as president of Ivory CoastNEW: He calls for a moment of silence to remember victims of the bloodshedHe takes the reins after a political standoff with his predecessor His administration faces a huge task of reuniting a divided country, rights group say

(CNN) -- Alassane Ouattara was inaugurated Saturday as president of troubled Ivory Coast in a ceremony that marked a symbolic end to months of political turmoil.

In his speech, Ouattara recognized the 20 heads of state who were present at the ceremony in the capital, Yamoussoukro, mentioning French President Nicholas Sarkozy first. He then called for a moment of silence to remember compatriots killed in the bloodshed that followed the disputed November election.

Ouattara's predecessor Laurent Gbagbo refused to acknowledge defeat at the polls and cede power. Ouattara finally became president after Gbagbo's capture last month.

Ouattara had already been sworn in but Saturday's event was a formal start to a presidency challenged by myriad issues plaguing Ivory Coast. Ouattara's administration faces a huge task of reuniting a divided country, human rights groups have said.

In the months after the November vote, spiraling violence between forces loyal to both sides left hundreds dead, and cases of enforced disappearances and sexual violence were reported.

Human rights investigators said this month that they have found a total of 10 mass graves near the commercial capital of Abidjan.

In a letter sent to Ouattara before his inauguration, Human Rights Watch urged the new president to hold perpetrators of past atrocities accountable

The global monitoring group called on the president to address the communal divisions through a truth-telling mechanism, ensure discipline among security forces and establish an independent judiciary.

"President Ouattara will be sworn in as head of a deeply fractured nation still reeling from the horrors of recent months," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "He should waste no time in moving (Ivory Coast) out of this dark period through justice that is blind to political affiliation or rank."

One of his main challenges will be reconciliation among citizens, according to a humanitarian worker in Abidjan.

It will be critical for the new government to avoid reprisals between different ethnic and tribal groups, between political foes and between victims and perpetrators of murder and other atrocities, said Stephen Wallace, director of the international aid organization CARE in Ivory Coast.

CARE has established a "listening center" at a camp for displaced people and hopes to open many more.

It's a place where traumatized people can go to work through what they saw and what they feel. It's a good way to prevent acts of vengeance, Wallace said.

Ouattarra has urged the International Criminal Court to investigate "the most serious crimes committed" after the presidential vote.

CNN's Moni Basu contributed to this report.

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UN: Mass grave found in Ivory Coast

Alassane Ouattara was sworn in Friday as president, ending a months-long political standoff.NEW: U.N. investigations suggest the latest bodies are from an April 12 massacreA U.N. spokeswoman says the 68 bodies were found in graves near AbidjanMore than 1,000 have died in clashes after a contested presidential electionU.N. teams found more than 200 bodies in a mass grave in April

(CNN) -- Forensic experts have unearthed about 68 bodies from another cluster of mass graves in war-torn Ivory Coast, a United Nations spokeswoman said Monday.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, said human rights investigators found a total of 10 mass graves in the Yopougon district, near the country's commercial capital of Abidjan, over the weekend.

According to U.N. investigations, the Yopougon killings appear to be related to an April 12 massacre in which supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo staged an attack on supporters of Alassane Ouattara. Gbagbo's unwillingness to hand over power to Ouattara after last year's presidential election -- even after Ouattara was recognized internationally as the winner -- resulted in months of violence.

In April, U.N. teams found more than 200 bodies buried in a mass grave in the western town of Duekoue.

More than 1,000 people have died following the contested 2010 presidential election that pitted Ouattara against Gbagbo.

Ouattara was sworn in Friday as president of Ivory Coast, ending the months-long political standoff.

Shamdasani said the Ivory Coast government has been cooperative in helping investigators search for clues, some of which may incriminate Outtara supporters as well as Gbagbo supporters.

"When we apply pressure, they do respond," she said.

An independent, international commission of inquiry is investigating alleged human rights violations committed by supporters of each presidential candidate, Shamdasani said.

"Some of these crimes may amount to crimes against humanity," Shamdasani said. "But for now, we can't say that with confidence."

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Mediators to try to mend Ivory Coast

Ivorian President Ouattara set up a post-conflict Truth and Conciliation Commission to bring justice after the atrocitiesFormer U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are part of the reconciliation effortThe Ivory Coast's recent disputed presidential election plunged the nation into a period of violent tension

(CNN) -- Three of the international diplomatic community's most respected mediators arrived in the Ivory Coast Sunday to start a process of national reconciliation.

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President of the Republic of Ireland Mary Robinson gathered in Abidjan for the first day of their two-day visit.

"You have lived a very difficult experience," Annan said to a crowd of reporters gathered. "There is only one Ivory Coast, and we must work together and build this country."

Last month, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara told reporters he was setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to bring to justice anyone who committed atrocities during the most recent strife or before that.

The West African nation recently ended a political stalemate, which started in December following former President Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to step down after he lost elections.

Escalated violence and fears of war forced nearly 1 million residents to flee the main city of Abidjan, aid groups said. The standoff left hundreds dead.

CNN's Moni Basu and Alanne Orjoux contributed to this report.

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U.N. in Ivory Coast says 'the war is over,' Gbagbo surrenders

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Update at 9:13 a.m. ET: The U.N. special representative in the Ivory Coast tells Al-Jazeera TV that "the war is over" and that strongman Laurent Gbagbo has surrendered. "He is in a basement and is ready to surrender," says Y. P. Choi, who is the special representative of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. He says Gbagbo's top generals have all defected and his fighters have "simply melted away." Choi says U.N. officials are now trying to find out Gbagbo's terms of surrender, but that the fighting has ceased, except perhaps for some isolated units who have not gotten the word.

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