Ex-Leader Gbagbo to Return to Ivory Coast After ICC Acquittal

(Bloomberg) --

Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is due to return to the country on Thursday for the first time in 10 years, after being acquitted of charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

The Hague-based ICC in March upheld an earlier acquittal, paving the way for his return home, where he may still face jail time after being tried and sentenced in absentia for looting the local branch of the Central Bank of West African States.

Gbagbo, 76, and his former youth minister, Charles Ble Goude, were cleared of allegations of committing crimes against humanity in 2019, but only conditionally released pending the outcome of the prosecutor’s appeal.

The ex-leader triggered a five-month conflict in the world’s top cocoa producer when he refused to concede defeat to President Alassane Ouattara in 2010 elections. The ensuing civil war left more than 3,000 people dead or missing and led to a contraction in the West African nation’s economy in 2011.

“Mr. Gbagbo’s returning to his country, so for us it’s the return of a normal citizen,” government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting Wednesday, when asked whether someone from the executive will be welcoming him at the airport.

His party insists he’s coming back in the spirit of peace and reconciliation, but the return remains a key test for stability in one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies.

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