AfricaNews Monitoring Team
Ghana has received warrants from Ivory Coast for the arrest and extradition of ex-Ivorian combatants in that country involved in atrocities committed in Ivory Coast. The warrants, currently being studied by that country's Attorney-General's Department, are for the arrest of some members of the 200 ex-combatants currently in Ghana.
The request is coming at the heels of the transfer of former President Laurant Gbagbo to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to face trial for crimes he committed against humanity.
Expressing Ghana's support for the transfer of Gbagbo to the ICC, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, said any Ivorian found guilty of committing atrocities would be apprehended and handed over to the authorities in Cote d’Ivoire.
He said Ghana could not dictate to Cote d'Ivoire on what to do with their ex-president and pointed out that "we have no quarrels about the decision to transfer him to the ICC."
Alhaji Mumuni explained that Ghana was party to the statutes that established the ICC and would therefore support the sovereign decision of Cote d'Ivoire.
He said Article 98 of the regulations of ICC states that "No state party is obliged to execute the warrant of ICC if in doing so that state will be contravening his treaty obligation to another country."
However Alhaji Mumuni said since the government of Cote d’Ivoire had decided to transfer Gbagbo to face four charges of crimes against humanity - murder and rape - Ghana could not take an entrenched position.
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