Gbagbo’s Trial Is the Latest Sign of Victor’s Justice in Cote d’Ivoire

Gbagbo’s Trial Is the Latest Sign of Victor’s Justice in Cote d’Ivoire
Cote d’Ivoire's president, Alassane Ouattara, at the African Union Summit, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Jan. 30, 2016 (AP photo by Mulugeta Ayene).

Five years after Cote d’Ivoire’s 2011 post-election crisis came to a bloody end, the trial of former First Lady Simone Gbagbo for crimes against humanity is set to open this month in Abidjan, the country’s biggest city and economic hub. More than 3,000 people were killed, 150 women raped and hundreds of thousands displaced during five months of fighting after Gbagbo’s husband, then-incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, refused to step down despite losing the November 2010 presidential runoff vote to challenger Alassane Ouattara. Simone Gbagbo’s trial will mark the first time an Ivoirian court has dealt with international crimes committed during that conflict, which triggered the worst violence the country has experienced since its independence in 1960.

Yet justice and human rights advocates are hardly rejoicing. To the contrary, they’re worried the trial will merely reinforce the Ivoirian judiciary’s reputation for being shoddy and biased—a reputation that continues to undermine progress the country has made in other areas. Since taking office in May 2011, Ouattara has received high marks for overseeing an economic rebound and restoring security. Last October, he crushed a divided opposition to win a second five-year term in a peaceful election. But the handling of cases stemming from the 2011 conflict remains a glaring blemish on his record.

Since they were arrested together in an underground bunker at the height of the 2011 fighting, Laurent and Simone Gbagbo have traced very different paths, neither of which has done much to promote national reconciliation. In November 2011, the ousted president was transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, becoming the first former head of state to be taken into the court’s custody. Along with Charles Ble Goude, his former youth minister and leader of the notorious pro-Gbagbo militia group the Young Patriots, he is accused of responsibility for crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and persecution. The case against the two men opened in January.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review