20110624
Reuters
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Former rebels loyal to Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara were last week still committing abuses such as executions and torture in which they killed at least 8 people, the United Nations said on Thursday.



Pro-Ouattara forces also wounded several others and detained at least 30, some of whom were subjected to torture or abuse, in that week, the U.N. mission, ONUCI, said in a statement.

"ONUCI urges the Ivorian authorities to proceed with investigations of crimes committed by (Ouattara's troops) and ongoing abuses by some uncontrolled elements," U.N. mission human rights officer Guillaume Ngefa said in a statement.

The world's top war crime prosecutor said forces loyal to former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo as well as those backing his rival, Ouattara, committed war crimes in the post-election violence, as he opened a formal investigation into it on Thursday.

International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said at least 3,000 people were killed and 520 people were arbitrarily detained in the violence.

Gbagbo is being detained in northern Ivory Coast, awaiting a domestic trial for alleged economic crimes, although Ouattara also wants him tried in the ICC for crimes against humanity.

Gbagbo's supporters complain that not a single Ouattara soldier has yet been arrested, despite evidence of grave abuses, including a massacre in territory under their control in the west of the country that killed hundreds.