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Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara has demanded the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct a probe into the crimes committed after the November presidential election.

The ICC posted a letter on its website on Wednesday in which Ouattara had asked The Hague court to carry out “independent and impartial inquiries in Ivory Coast into the most serious crimes committed since November 28, 2010 throughout the Ivorian territory,” AFP reported.

The West African country plunged into a deadly political chaos late November when the former President Laurent Gbagbo, dismissing results that showed his defeat, refused to hand over power to his rival, Ouattara.

Much of the international community recognized Ouattara as the rightful winner of the vote, but Gbagbo defiantly declined to step down, accusing the rival camp of vote-rigging.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had earlier said the legal body would start an investigation into alleged mass killings in Ivory Coast. The UN had said it had received reports of mass graves but was blocked by Gbagbo loyalists from examining the issue.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has said supporters of Ouattara killed and raped many people in late March as they successfully advanced towards Gbagbo headquarters in Abidjan.

The UN and French helicopters, at the order of UN chief Ban Ki-moon, attacked Gbagbo military equipment and took control of Abidjan airport.

Gbagbo and a group of his cronies were finally confined to his presidential residence in Abidjan. He was arrested on April 11.