The Ivory Coast is really in trouble these days.
With much of the aid being pushed into Japan, the Ivory Coast is stuck in a serious humanitarian crisis.
There is an intense rivalry between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, who was recognized as the winner of the presidential election by the UN.
This likely be reprisal violence that could severely affect the truth and reconciliation that the country, which has been recently splintered by wars.
Will Gbagbo go in trial in the Ivory Coast or will he be turned over to an international body like the Hague, Charles Taylor-style?
Should Gbagbo be tried within the country, the new Ouattara government will have to be careful in how it delivers Gbagbo’s punishment, this due to the number of supporters who remained loyal to the former president to the point of civil war.
The incredibly fractured country could explode if Gbagbo is handled internally.
But, it is also important that the new government strongly asserts itself as the serious and unchallenged power-holder in the country. If they turned Gbagbo over to the Hague, this could signal that the Ivory Coast has reached the level of breakdown as its neighbors, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
