The International Criminal Court charged former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo with murder, rape, persecution and inhuman acts today, crimes allegedly committed as his backers fought to keep him in power last year.

Chelsea football star Didier Drogba is taking a leading role in a bid to bring peace to his native Ivory Coast, torn apart by post-election violence.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon may have almost blown his chances of re-election by antagonising Moscow over the Balkans in 2008 but he has since focused on pleasing the US, Russia and other big UN powers, making his re-election tomorrow a certainty.

At least 68 bodies were spread out across 10 burial mounds in a mass grave discovered on a football field in the Ivory Coast capital Abidjan, the United Nations said.

At least 68 bodies were spread out across 10 burial mounds in a mass grave discovered on a football field in the Ivory Coast capital Abidjan, the UN said tonight.

The head of Ivory Coast’s highest court has proclaimed Alassane Ouattara president.

Renegade warlord Ibrahim “IB” Coulibaly, a two-time coup plotter who began the pro-democracy battle for Abidjan, was killed fighting his one-time allies, Ivory Coast state television said.

The Ivory Coast’s new army turned its guns on a former ally who helped liberate Abidjan and install the democratically elected president, military sources said of a major setback as the country was beginning to return to normal.

IVORY Coast’s president said the country’s arrested strongman will face charges “on a national level and an international level” as the president attempts to restore order after a bloody four-month standoff.

Former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo is to be put on trial facing charges on a “national and international” level.

SPORADIC gunfire rang out after Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara called on all fighters to put down their arms now that the country’s long time strongman has been captured following a months-long deadly power struggle.

France is to scale back its forces in Ivory Coast after the capture of former president Laurent Gbagbo.

Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo was captured by his opponents today after months of clinging on to power in the wake of a failed election bid.

FORCES loyal to Ivory Coast’s democratically- elected president killed hundreds of civilians, raped his rival’s supporters and burned villages during an offensive in the west of the country, a human rights group said.

Artillery hit the residence of France’s ambassador to Ivory Coast for the second time in two days, the French embassy said, a possible show of defiance from the country’s strongman who has resisted international pressure to emerge from a bunker and cede power.

UN workers in Ivory Coast have found the bodies of more than 100 victims of brutal killings, a discovery that threatened to undermine presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara as he seeks to take control of the country.

Ivory Coast’s democratically elected leader says his forces will not capture the entrenched incumbent who has been holed up for days in an underground bunker at the presidential residence, and instead will wait for him to run out of food and water.

An armed group trying to install Ivory Coast’s internationally recognised president has surrounded a bunker the country’s strongman refuses to leave, saying they will wait for him to come out.

UNITED NATIONS peacekeepers have surrounded the “last defenders” of Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo, after a week of heavy fighting to unseat him.

HEAVY arms fire rang out near the home of Ivory Coast’s incumbent president, who remained holed up in a subterranean bunker, as forces backing his rival assaulted the residence in an effort to force him out.

Heavy arms fire rang out today near Ivory Coast’s presidential residence as the country’s embattled leader remained holed up in a bunker there despite mediation efforts to force his surrender.

IVORY Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo was negotiating the terms of his departure from power last night following a fierce assault by forces loyal to his presidential rival backed by UN and French helicopter airstrikes.

Ivory Coast’s strongman leader Laurent Gbagbo holed up in a bunker defiantly maintaining he won the election four months ago even as troops backing the internationally recognised winner encircled the presidential residence.

Negotiators are close to convincing Ivory Coast’s embattled leader Laurent Gbagbo to leave office, according to the French foreign minister.

Forces backing Ivory Coast’s democratically elected leader have seized the presidential home where the entrenched incumbent is in a bunker, a senior diplomat said.

Laurent Gbagbo is thought to be negotiating his surrender after United Nations and French forces closed in on Ivory Coast's presidential palace early today.

IVORY COAST’S internationally recognised leader Alassane Ouattara is poised to launch a final push in Abidjan to defeat his cornered rival, a top official said as both sides deny committing atrocities.

The army chief for Ivory Coast’s entrenched president has rejoined the military days after deserting and seeking refuge at a foreign diplomat’s residence.

Residents barricaded themselves inside their homes, blanketing windows and pushing furniture against doors as Abidjan awaited the final battle between the two men who claim Ivory Coast’s presidency.

Military officials loyal to Ivory Coast’s entrenched leader have called on their forces to resist rebels who are trying to depose him as he refuses to cede power.

HEAVY fighting is raging near the presidential palace in the Ivory Coast’s largest city Abidjan as armed forces loyal to the elected president try to install him in power and oust the country’s strongman.

Fighters trying to install Ivory Coast’s democratically-elected president descended on its largest city and seat of power, poised for a final push to oust the entrenched ruler.

REBELS fighting to install Ivory Coast’s democratically elected president began besieging the main city of Abidjan yesterday after seizing a key seaport.

Rebels fighting to install Ivory Coast’s democratically elected president began besieging the main city of Abidjan today after seizing a key seaport.

Rebel forces supporting the internationally recognised leader of Ivory Coast have seized the strategic cocoa-exporting port of San Pedro, residents said.

The United Nations Security Council has demanded an immediate end to the escalating violence in Ivory Coast and imposed sanctions on Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to relinquish the presidency, and his inner circle.

Rebels backing Ivory Coast’s internationally-recognised leader Alassane Ouattara extended their gains by capturing a strategic crossroads and advanced towards the capital Abidjan after four months of political chaos following the disputed election.

A rebel army allied with Ivory Coast’s democratically elected president has taken control of a fourth town in the country’s far West, a military spokesman said.

Soldiers backing Ivory Coast’s rogue leader fired on civilians again today killing at least four people after hundreds took to the streets to protest the deaths of seven women gunned down at a march last week.

Hundreds of women today marched to the spot in Ivory Coast’s capital where soldiers shot dead seven unarmed female protesters last week in an attack that brought a wave of criticism from around the world.

Heavy fighting broke out near the border with Liberia between forces backing the political rivals who both claim to be Ivory Coast’s president, panicking tens of thousands of refugees who already had fled the violence.

HEAVY fighting erupted in western Ivory Coast between rebels and forces loyal to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, sources along the Liberian border told Reuters yesterday.

Six women protesters have been machine gunned to death by security forces loyal to the leader clinging to power in the Ivory Coast.