EX-PRESIDENT RETURNS TO IVORY COAST

Former President Laurent Gbagbo returned home to Ivory Coast on Thursday, a decade after his refusal to concede defeat in a presidential election sparked months of violence that left more than 3,000 people dead.

Gbagbo was extradited to the International Criminal Court at The Hague in 2011 and spent eight years awaiting trial on war crimes charges. A judge acquitted him in 2019, saying prosecutors had failed to prove their case.

The verdict was appealed but upheld in late March, clearing the way for Gbagbo to leave Belgium, where he had spent the past two years.

After making his way down the steps to the runway, Gbagbo was escorted to a VIP hall at the airport, where he was greeted by political allies and his wife, Simone. She did not attend his trial at The Hague because the ICC also had issued a warrant for her arrest on charges related to the postelection violence.

While the government led by his then-rival President Alassane Ouattara has allowed Gbagbo’s return to

Ivorian soil, there were already concerns about what role the divisive former leader may play in national politics.

Gbagbo’s supporters began arriving near the airport at 6 a.m., long before the expresident had even boarded his flight in Brussels. Tensions between the jubilant crowds and security forces were high, with tear gas being used to disperse people coming to greet Gbagbo.

The ex-president made no comment to journalists before getting into a vehicle that was soon encircled by crowds. Officials from his political party had said he planned to make a tour of Abidjan to visit supporters in his strongholds, but it was not immediately clear how his flight’s delayed arrival might affect those plans.

Gbagbo’s opponents maintain he should be jailed in Ivory Coast, not given a statesman’s welcome. Some demonstrated outside Gbagbo’s residence in the Cocody neighborhood of Abidjan on Wednesday.