Belgium has agreed to host Ivory Coast ex-President Laurent Gbagbo following his acquittal by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Under his conditional release, Mr Gbagbo will not be allowed to leave Belgium, pending an appeal. Mr Gbagbo was captured in 2011 in a presidential palace bunker by UN and French-backed forces supporting his rival, Alassane Ouattara. The violence in Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producer, came after Mr Gbagbo refused to accept that he had lost a disputed election run-off to Mr Ouattara in 2010. A spokesman for the ICC told the BBC he could not confirm if Mr Gbagbo had left the ICC detention facility.

Source: The Star February 02, 2019 12:22 UTC