What should happen to Gbagbo?

Mr Laurent Gbagbo is a citizen of Ivory Coast and there are laws covering the crimes he has committed in that country. Gbagbo should be made to face the law as any other person who commits a crime should.

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I have been an advocate for Ouattara all along since the elections in November, but I am beginning to take a step back. The UN is satisfied with the election, French and UN forces takes out Gbagbo’s guns in the face of rebel advance, French troops capture Gbagbo and turn him over to the rebels. And the BBC has the nerve to ask us what should happen to Gbagbo now? Is that not a question for the French and the UN?

[Personal details removed by Moderator]Mr Gbagbo provoked the whole of the people in Ivory Coast. Over 1000 lives lost. He has to be charged. All his money should be taken away and used to feed the displaced ones. His immediate family and comrades must face the same punishment. What does he think he is? Is he God? African leaders should take note from this. No one is above anyone.

Meanwhile the new President should be president for all.

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I don't know why African leaders find it difficult to accept defeat! Gbagbo should've taken the honourable way and handed over power to Ouattara, but since he prefered to be humiliated? Nothing more to be done than sending him to where this type belong, prison! We the people of Africa, we're ready to take our destiny into our hands, we're not going to support any bad leader any more, Ivorians should come out and support Ouattara for now, instead of fighting each other. If he too follows Gbagbo's route, kick him out, period!! We're ready and watching!

[Personal details removed by Moderator]Considering the amount of support Gbagbo has in the Ivory Coast and considering his reputation as a democrat, I believe he should be given a voice in Ouattara's government if he accepts it. Power was forcibly removed from him, both during the elections, Ouattara's forces having remained armed and in a position of intimidation, and afterwards, with French forces and the UN directed by the French ensuring his downfall. It would be unfair to put him on trial without putting Ouattara on trial too. Both sides committed atrocities which, without the French and the UN taking side without justification, quite possibly would have been avoided.

[Personal details removed by Moderator]Africa has been taken hostage by self centered leaders like the Ivorian Ggabgo. A new era is sweeping across the great continent of Africa and bringing along with it hope.

Ggagbo should face a fair trial. He has been a problem and thefore, can not be a part of the solution.

VIVA AFRICA.

[Personal details removed by Moderator]Send him to Ghana. We will take him if you people don't want him. We need to preserve honest individuals like him.

Gbagbo's crimes are beyond pardon, but for the sake of peace in the Ivory Coast, he should be treated leniently. If he can sign an undertaking to work towards the pacification of the militias to whom he irresponsibly distributed arms and recognise the man who won the November 2010 elections as president of the Ivory Coast, then he should be held for some time long enough for the world to see his pacification contributions work, then released and banned from taking part in politics for a number of years. That would be enough time for him to go on frail or senile retirement.

Gbagbo has demonstrated his bad faith to the reconciliation process after the Election. He has been offered many opportunities by Ecowas, African Union and United Nations but was unable to co-operate. Since he does not recognize Mr. Ouattara as the winner of the Presidential Election, he should be kept outside Ivory Coast and face a fair trial for being responsible of civil war in Ivory Coast, which has killed thousands of people.

Defeated armies poses talent,unless it is engaged,it can ferment and result into future cycles of disruption.They should be engaged to avoid future cycles of violence.

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I wish to add that Mr. Yao Ndri (the president of the Constitutional Council) who falsely overtuned the results in Mr. Gbagbo's favour should also face prosecution.

Thank God that Gbagbo has been smoked out of his bunker like a common criminal that he became. It is expedient to bring him to justice for plunging this once-beautiful country into the smouldering ruins it has become. I suggest total confiscation of his assets, his trial for crimes against humanity and jail terms in conditions similar to those to which he subjected those he persecuted would be a proper way to pay him back. This is not as much for retribution as for his refusal to show remorse. Ouattara has an onerous duty to rally his countrymen and women and rebuild trust. Ouattara should learn from his predecessor and not be tempted under any reason to seek a second term. He should see himself as the last of his generation to seek power. Let the Young Turks take the reins and let them rebuild the broken walls. Long live Cote d'Ivoire.

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The new leader has to be very careful how he handles Gbagbo considering that the margin of his victory is small. He needs to enlist the 46% in Abidjan if he is to be a legitimate leader for the whole country. It's one thing to have experience in IMF where there are set prescriptions you give to countries that are in a disadvantaged position anyway, and running a country coming out of war with intricate demographics inherited from colonial masters. Defy the odds take the man on board if you really want the good of cote divore or be an internally displaced leader in Abidjan.

Hurray, is the word on the mouth of most people who believe in democarcy for what happened to ex president gbagbo, but Ouattara should have in mind to reconcile with the people of the south and have this in mind he who comes by the gun leaves by the gun. I guess africa should be allowed to ruled it self without any foreign influence who only act when it favours them.

To err is human and to forgive is device. The two presidents both former and present have blood on their hands whether legitimately or illegitimately. So where would the justice people are calling for start; from Gbagbo’s camp or that of Ouattara?

Ivorian’s should be prepared to forgive Gbagbo for all the atrocities, the pain and the destruction he and his supporters have brought on the people of Ivory Coast.

Alassane Ouattara has the bigger tax of bringing all Ivoirians together to building once the icon of West Africa. All his attention should be directed to building every coast.

Reading the comments here, it is evident Africans are voiceless. The western world will be laughing at the level of stupidity displayed by us. Gbagbo did not nothing wrong contrary to what the western media will make you believe. They are only serving their interests. The two candidates disputed the results yet France was quick to accept Ouattara as the new internationally accepted president. Because he is internationally recognised doesn't mean he won. Why, probably because he is personal friends with Sarkozy. Even the UN admitted there were irregularities in Ouattara's stronghold, only to turn round and say it wasn't enough to suggest he did not win.
I can't see reconciliation in Ivory Coast if Ouattara is not tried as well. He is assuming a post that most probably isn't his just because the west wants him there. I personally think both of them should be tried because both forces committed atrocities. African countries, that mean well should start considering shifting from the west and liasing more with emerging powers like China and Iran. The war, I believe has just started

oduro0111
You may want Gbagbo, oduro0111 but I am also a Ghanaian and I am telling you right here we don't need this man, he is not honest go and see how much money he has stolen. I am married in this man's family if you don't know the bete tribe they have no love for anyone who is not a bete.... Ghana, Gbagbo have no love for Ghanaians or any one else. The silly thing is Gbagbo's father is from Mali and he has so much hate for others..... Ivorian betes please for Christ's sake grow up.

I really do that the Nigerian example should find a space in the Ivory Coast.General Gowon,the victorious head of the Nigerian was magnimous in victory and proclaimed a no victor,no vanquished situation.This facilitated reconciliation.Ivorians can put all of these behind them if Quattara agrees.May God help us,Africans!!!

French and so-called UN are not citizen of the I. Coast, but they helped another non-citizen Ouattara with his islamic millitia to bring down the elected president and a citizen of the Ivory Coast. That is a crime against humanity and the World is upside down when the terrorists are being put in by so called UN.

May God Bless Gbagbo Family!

PEACE!

Since the UN and other human rights agencies have said that there are evidences of atrocities caused by both sides, it would be better to just set up a truth and reconciliation commission to reconcile all parties. The UN should know that Gbagbo still have support in the country. Trying him may cause another crisis.

Gbagbo should face trial in the ICC for causing stir and death to civilians BUTwhy did France had to intervene? as always france decides who becomes president in francofone countries. there has never been a francofone country who is stable in Africa because of France presence, why dont they leave Africa for Africans....Gbagbo was completly wrong into clinging to power but France should have left for Ivorians to solve their own problems

What should happen to Gbagbo?
This is an easy question.
The former president Laurent Gbagbo should be banned for life from politics or ever running for office.
Ivory Coast should not waste, time, money and energy putting him on trial.
Instead, any stolen money stashed away in foreign banks should be retrieved and return to the country’s coffer.
While elections are not perfect in developed countries as the whole world saw in the U.S. 2000 presidential election, African countries still have a lot to learn from the West. Unlike Africa, where election losers want to hang onto power by hook or crook means, election losers in the West, always concede gracefully.
I hope it would not take another 50-100 years for African countries to reach that level of political maturity.

I personally believe that mr Gbagbo should be held accountable for the crime committed during the four months he was in power.

Laurent Gbagbo worked to subvert the will of the people by refusing to give up power after a narrow defeat to Ouattara. This is treason, and he should be tried in Cote D'Ivoire for treason (he may receive the death penalty for this, but that is the law). His reckless and selfish actions have caused the death of nearly a thousand Cote D'Ivorians, have devastated the infrastructure of a fledgling country which could ill-afford it, and of course decimated Cote D'Ivoire's economy. This cannot go unpunished. Not a single person needed to die just to effect a change of government. He had seen Mugabe losing election after election, but still remain president of Zimbabwe and figured he could pull the same stunt in Ivory Coast. The playing field, after the North African uprisings, has changed, and doubtful that even the master himself at rigging, Mugabe, can get away with it ever again. Mr. Gbagbo should have been reading the tea leaves much more carefully than he did.

it is sad to see our so call African leaders to sit back and look on helpless as French forces arrest president Gbagbo and turn him over to the rebels in the Ivory Coast on Tuesday. I believe the United Nation and the French government are making fun of us by asking what to be done to president Gbagbo. I guess since both the UN and the French government achieve their goal by arresting the elected president, then they should just go ahead and do what they wish and not ask for our comments As we may be aware by now, the French want to reoccorpied for it's cocoa in order to produce chocolate

This is a difficult one, for all sorts of reasons. First, if media reports are to be believed (it was, after all, the media who told us two weeks ago that Ouatarra's forces had routed Gbagbo's, until the latter started attacking UN forces), then Outarra's forces also committed atrocities, in which case, Outarra and Gbagbo should be in the dock together. Yet, few would accept that there is any moral equivalence between Gbagbo's crimes and Outarra's (even though I always fail to see the difference when the crimes alleged involve such grave rights violations). Secondly, even if Outarra's crimes don't count (and Gbagbo and his fellow scoundrels remain the only culprits), how would their trial help in the much-needed national healing process? The solution might be to engender real economic growth of the kind that creates jobs fast. But we know that even with the best intentions, that isn't always realistic.

Mr. Gbagbo is a brave and dignified son of the African continent , who has the courage to tell the Colonial power French that we are no longer going to accept you telling Africans what to do more than 50 years after independence. While Mr Laurent Gbagbo may be out of the office today, thanks to a well organized French lies and coup d’ Etat , he is and will always be a Pan-Africanist Leader who deserves my respect and admiration like Emery Patrice Lumumba. Shame on all other African Presidents that are still taking orders from colonial powers!!!

what should happen to Gbagbo?
He should be trial to world count for world crime,because the death of the of ivory coast. He dose not deserved to go free. Also Mr. Ouattara have to trial for world crime because violence can not bring peace amount people. He also the cause of the death of the people of ivory coast. Both of them have to be trial for would crime. My name
Sylvester Peters From Liberia Living U.S.A

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Gbagbo must be prosecuted for crimes committed by his supporters, likewise, Ouattara too. Both of their supporters may have committed crimes against humanity. But for the country to move forward, I guess you will have to pardon both men. However, if the UN committed illegal acts, as alleged by Gen. Abdul Hafiz (the former Force Commander of the UN in Ivory Coast), the UN must be prosecuted. The question is, who will or who can investigate/prosecute the UN ??? The allegations are serious, if found to be true, even Ban Ki-Moon's resignation may not be enough.

any way i wasnt happy to Mr Gbagbo because atless he is a leader, but still have to face law because he is the one behin all this and people have died just because for him.

He should be acquitted. What is his crime? That he refused to accept electoral fraud? If he can be proven to have ordered extrajudicial crimes, that is a different matter. Bring your charges and your proofs, Harding. Let it be documented this time. Then the people of world and the Cote d'Ivoire can decide for themselves what to think of him.

I think that Gbagbo is a stupid man by allowing the shameless,hopeless, helpless and hapeless wife together with the street general Blaie Goude to deceive him from ceding power. He and his wife must be tried at ICC and jailed.

He should be sent to the ICC and be judged for crimes against humanity. Had he gracefully accepted defeat, none of this chaos would have happened and 1500 lives would not have been needlessly lost. He should be locked up in some island prison, far away from the Ivory Coast, let that country have a fresh beginning without him. The electoral process in African countries was at risk of becoming a farce following the same pattern 1) incumbent president loses elections 2) he refuses to accept the will of the people 3) AU recognizes him as president and 4) proposes a power sharing deal 5) Real winner of elections becomes junior partner for the sake of peace. We've seen it before and it's time it was nipped in the bud, let this be a lesson to all the oppressors and dictators out there!

Mr. Gbagbo should be tried for what he has done to the poor people of Ivory Coast.
This will stand as an example to other wicked and greedy African leaders.
"What belong to Ceaser give it to Ceaser"

It's good for the people of Ivory Coast that can now breath signs of relief from the capturing of Gbagbo by the rival forces backed by france and UN. The military side of the conflict is over and civilan (politics) side to start soon. Gbagbo is a typical Ivorien(not above the law) likewise the others. I think a Truth & Reconciliation Commission should be set to listen to all sides of the conflict. And this commission should look back from the death of the first president(Felix H. B). This will help to ease the pain as the new president promised on state Tv, to write a new page in the ivorien history.

The pogrom happening is Ivory Coast is as a result of one man’s greed – Gbagbo. This is a man who had 5 years extra and had won the first election though strongly disputed. He should have his date with ICC to atone for the mindless but needless bloodletting that took place in Ivory Coast within the last two months. Shooting defenseless women and attacking a market place could hardly be an attribute of a statesman. He is less refined than Adam and should face justice together with his close associates.

Please the President of ECOWAS Commission, give us a break the naked and peeled body of ex-President Gbagbo tell us alot.The humanly looking body of Laurent gbagbo, shows that we the people of black sahara Africa are all thesame, rich or poor, a President or a cleaner you're nothing than an ordinary African. Lets learn to work together, to eat together, to pray together and to live together, we are all thesame people with common destiny.

The problems faced by Mr Gbagbo and the Ivorian people here is the risk of unfair trial, inadequate sentencing as well as prison conditions that will either be too harsh or too luxurious should he be found guilty. Sending him offshore for trial in a venue such as the ICC allows for a more impartial environment, and if he is sentenced he can also be held offshore (see the ICJ Trials on Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda).

As for the subject of a Truth & Reconciliation Commission, is it necessary? Will it only help to maintain the divides in the country? In East Timor the government has staunchly refused to hold a TRC on this basis. While South Africa held one, it was to demonstrate openness regarding the excesses of the Apartheid regime and help to instil confidence in government for fear it would continue to operate in a vindictive way against its own people. It is a question for the Ivorian people of course, but perhaps consider if it is about re-instilling confidence in government, or laying blame.

I do not understand why my comment was deleted. Anything that is happens to Gbagbo should happen to Ouattara and may be on a larger scale on Mr Ouattara if at all we have to face the bitter truth. What is clear is that mr Gbagbo never started any fighting. He has always been on the defensive since 2002 unfortunately, his military power was not stronger than that of France.

President Gbagbo who's now in protective custody after long and bloody battle claims that the elections were rigged in order to remove him from power. It is imperative that his allegations be addressed impartially by an independent Judicial Commission with members from the African Union countries. Mr Gbagbo should be restored as the President of Ivory Coast should the AU Judicial Commission find his allegation to be correct. However, should the Judicial commission's finding determine that the elections were indeed fair and impartial and that he did not win the majority vote, he should be set free and retired from politics and for life. Punishing him or sentencing him to death would be considered a revengeful act and must be avoided at all cost.

You cant expect an adult of 20 years to be on thesame cognitive level with a toddler. African democracy is just a toddler and the way the west is forcing it to mature is not helping in most cases. In as much as i cant support or blame Gbagbo, there more issues in ivory coast that meet the eyes. This question of where Gbagbo's fate should be better be answered by the french government whom I believe want to us Africa to score political point back home and military point in the international community. I hope they will be there to finish what they have started. African problem needs African solution. French government went too far. It is a humiliation on the ivorians as far as I am concern, the world watching their president changing cloth and barrigated by sectional enermies. Why not hand him over to the UN. God save Africa

I just want to add that if the French government wants to achieve political and military releavance, they should help the amighty Americans in Afganistan and not poor and helpless African. We know our democracy is'nt perfect but you can't perfect it with ingnorance to our own kind of imperfection. We are learning and any move to forcefully humiliate 45% of ivorians who voted for Gbagbo by disgracing their leader the way they did, I believe will never away just like that. Unfortunatly, is the ivorians that are suffering this french and UN myopic descitions in ivory coast. May God help Africa. Amen

I understand now that the UN and the French are doing their best to coverup the crimes committed by Ouatarra's rebels group on their way to Abidjan. I believe the 800 or 1000 people murdered in cold blood in Dokoua will now[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator] go in vain in case there is going to be total peace in the Ivory Coast. To the ECOWAS leaders, I just wanted to say that you need to give us a break and close your mouthsfor now in order for us to think about what had happened to our elected president Gbagbo.

as the Bible says, bad friends corrupts good morals,but is that the case in Gbagbo`s, well I have to say that we are tired of these psycophants and tyrants, Gbagbo is should not be the only one to be put on trial, Affi N`guessan,Ble Goude,Simone Gbagbo of the dreaded death squad,Tagro (RIP),and his army generals who failed advise him or to cling on to power or to reject His order to fight, and many more others who are in hiding now, I remember when Gen Guei was in the same situation, his military commanders advised him to cede power to avoid bloodshed and he accepted, and he gave up power for the sake of peace in Ivory Coast, showing that he loved Ivory coast more than clinging on to power,but with Gbagbo and cohorts what did we get ? he came onto power through bloodshed,and he was forceD from power through bloodshed, whose blood has been shed in all this ? Ivoriens blood ofcourse, many of his cohorts are still calling for war,why must we get bloodsheds,defiance, assaisinations,wars and destruction anytime it is Gbagbo and co ? .Let Gbagbo and co apologise to all Ivoriens,as the new president has said yesterday,no true reconciliation without justice,let Ivorien people decide, They should show signs that they would live in Peace and Harmony with every Ivorien and foreigners alike. we want peace and we need peace now in Ivory coast more than ever,I call on UN,AU,ECOWAS should not leave Ivory coast now,do your part to support the new government and guide her to the right path of true democracy,ADO must be helped and advised without biase and prejudice so he would be able to unite Ivory Coast so that true reconciliation and forgiveness will prevail.

We have two potential criminals in our hands, Gbagbo and Ouattara! I learnt that Ouattara jailed Gbagbo in 1992 for "stirring trouble" when Ouattara was prime minister under a sick President Houphet Boigny! At that time, Gbagbo was a firebrand opposition leader! Gbagbo has been doing the same since 2002 and hence the civil war the continuation of a civil war whose seeds were planted in the early nineties when Ouattara was prime minister under one of the greatest thieves the continent has ever seen in the name of Houphet Boigny. A truth and reconciliation commission would be a perfect solution. Both guys are dirty!

I don't understand why some people do not live up to what they say. It was Laurent Gbagbo who drove all past Ivorian leaders crazy over what we called, they not being Democratic. Why didn't he follow the democratic process when it was his term. Gbagbo should definitely face justice