| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Subsaharan |
| Gbagbo-linked assets frozen |
| 2011-05-06 |
| [Iran Press TV] Switzerland has frozen USD 81 million in potentially illegal assets linked to ousted Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... and members of his inner circle. "Switzerland ordered his assets seized in January to prevent them being diverted before the Ivory Coast could launch domestic criminal proceedings," Rooters quoted a statement released by the Swiss Foreign Ministry on Thursday as saying. Under the Swiss cabinet's order, the funds will be frozen for up to three years to prevent them from being withdrawn before Ivory Coast can conclude criminal proceedings against Gbagbo. Gbagbo and a group of his cohorts were jugged on April 11. Internationally-recognized President Alassane Ouattara ...the current president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... took power on the same day. French and UN helicopters bombarded Gbagbo's military bases and then took control of the country's main airport in Abidjan. The development came almost five months since Ouattara's runoff election against Gbagbo tipped the West African country into political crisis. Ouattara's government is now trying to re-establish security and bring the country back to normal. On April 27, his government announced that it had begun criminal investigations against Gbagbo, his wife and a hundred of his associates. During the run-up to his ouster, Gbagbo committed crimes against humanity and was suspected of having made mass graves by killing opposition forces, the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... has said. Although the country's political crisis is over, the humanitarian crisis still continues as thousands of displaced people are in dire need of food and water. |
| Posted by:Fred |