Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo returns home after war crimes acquittal

The ex-president left the country in 2011 after his refusal to accept electoral defeat sparked a conflict that ended in his arrest and transfer to The Hague

The 76-year-old’s homecoming will be a key test of stability in Ivory Coast, the wealthiest country in francophone West Africa

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Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo. File photo: AP

Published: 10:38pm, 17 Jun 2021Updated: 5:49am, 18 Jun 2021

Former president Laurent Gbagbo was returning to Ivory Coast on Thursday for the first time in nearly a decade, after he was cleared of crimes against humanity and his once-bitter rival welcomed him back in the name of reconciliation.

Gbagbo left the country in humiliation in 2011, after his refusal to accept electoral defeat sparked a conflict that ended in his arrest and transfer to The Hague.

The 76-year-old’s homecoming will be a key test of stability in Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer and the wealthiest country in francophone West Africa.

People hold a banner bearing the face of Laurent Gbagbo on June 17, 2021 during a rally ahead of his arrival in Ivory Coast. Photo: AFP

Gbagbo boarded a commercial flight to Abidjan from Brussels on Thursday morning, said his spokesman Justin Katinan Kone.

The Belgian capital has been his home since the International Criminal Court (ICC) acquitted him in a shock decision in 2019. An appeal against the ruling failed in March, paving the way for his return.

Gbagbo was ousted in April 2011 after around 3,000 people died in the months-long conflict that followed his refusal to accept electoral defeat at the hands of Alassane Ouattara, the current president.

Today, Gbagbo has been recast in the role of statesman, called upon to help national reconciliation after elections last year left scores dead.