Ouattara: I.Coast to Hold Next President Polls Oct 2015

Ivory Coast will hold its next presidential polls in October 2015, said President Alassane Ouattara, whose election in 2010 touched off a wave of violence that left 3,000 dead.

Ouattara did not declare definitively that he would seek a second term. But on Friday he told supporters gathered in central Ivory Coast's Bouake: "I will be here campaigning in September 2015."

Five months of deadly unrest followed the last election as strongman Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat. It ended only when the former president was captured in April 2011.

Gbagbo is now in the custody of the International Criminal Court, where he is accused of masterminding a campaign of violence during the standoff in the west African country.

Declaring the date for the next polls, Ouattara added: "I will not try to get back the time that was stolen from me because of the post-election crisis."