Charles Blé Goudé, who helped keep Laurent Gbagbo in power, is said to be willing to face any court that can give him a 'fair trial'
The fugitive leader of a violent youth militia, who helped keep the former Ivory Coast president and war crimes suspect Laurent Gbagbo in power, is willing to hand himself in to face trial, his lawyer has told the Guardian.
Charles Blé Goudé, the charismatic head of the Young Patriots, fled Ivory Coast last April in the final days of a five-month conflict triggered by Gbagbo's attempt to cling on to power after losing elections five months earlier.
Known as the "street general", Goudé's rhetoric against the country's former colonial power, France, resonated among supporters who flocked to mass army enlistments as the regime crumbled. Anti-French riots organised by the group forced 8,000 foreigners to evacuate the country in 2004.
But fiery speeches also targeted northern Ivorians who shared the ethnicity of the poll victor, Alassane Ouattara, and mobs of Young Patriots carried out lynchings known as "Article 320" – named after the cost of a litre of fuel and matches for burning their victims alive.
Nick Kaufman, legal representative for Goudé, told the Guardian: "Charles Blé Goudé, for his part, has faithfully and peacefully served the people of Ivory Coast and will continue to do so wherever he may be. To those that deny this, Mr Goudé is prepared to face any court which can guarantee equality before the law, a fair trial and his personal safety."
Kaufman, whose other clients include Saadi Gaddafi, the playboy son of the dead Libyan leader, said he had asked the attorney general of Ivory Coast "to clarify whether the office of the prosecutor in The Hague has made contact with the Ivorian authorities to seek the surrender of his client to the international criminal court and, if so, whether he intends to assent to his indictment by the institution."
Sources told the Guardian that the firebrand youth leader was also likely to be included on a list of potential war crimes suspects being investigated by the international criminal court (ICC). "The ICC asked Ghana to make efforts to bring Goudé back to Ivory Coast, but of course it's a delicate matter to hand over someone so high profile," an official said.
In his last televised appearance, as rebel forces closed in on the crumbling regime in the main city of Abidjan, Goudé, dressed in a dirty white vest, gave a rambling, incoherent speech from a dimly lit, rubble-strewn compound. He then fled to Ghana while other members of the regime were imprisoned, killed or – in the case of one army general – caught disguised as a woman. Ivory Coast's attorney general issued an international arrest warrant for Goudé on charges of xenophobia and inciting violence.
His re-emergence from the shadows comes barely three weeks after campaigners hailed the conviction of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes as a victory for international justice and a step towards ending impunity in Africa. Keeping Taylor company at The Hague is Goudé's former protector, Gbagbo.
Seeking to avoid a diplomatic row, officials in Ghana have consistently denied knowledge of Goudé's whereabouts. But confidantes in regular contact with him said Goudé flitted between an upmarket neighbourhood in the capital, Accra, and nearby Togo, where some of his family have settled.
A trial on home soil is potentially fraught. A 2002 army mutiny partitioned Ivory Coast into a government-controlled south and rebel-held north, and deep divisions linger. Rebels who dislodged Gbagbo from power with the help of United Nations and French troops also committed atrocities – including summarily executing hundreds in the town of Duekoue – as they swept from their northern enclaves to encircle the main city of Abidjan. Some are also believed to be under investigation by the ICC but to date, no pro-Ouattara fighter has been tried in the country, fuelling accusations of a one-sided justice.
Gnan Xavier, a trader in Abidjan said: "The government has talked about reconciliation but what does that mean when only those who fought against him are being tried? In my street, there are people who killed on both sides."
In the same neighbourhood, Baba Cisse, whose friend was burned alive by a mob, said: "I'd like to at least see Blé tried. Hiding out and sending messages through intermediaries in the manner of Bin Laden doesn't strike me as the behaviour of an innocent man."
More than 3,000 people were killed before the conflict ended when Gbagbo was pulled out from a bunker in the presidential palace in April last year.