I. Coast's Ble Goude to be Tried for Crimes against Humanity

The International Criminal Court on Thursday ordered a close ally of former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, Charles Ble Goude, to stand trial for crimes against humanity linked to a 2010-11 post-election crisis.

"The Pre-Trial Chamber confirmed four charges of crimes against humanity against Charles Ble Goude and committed him to trial," the Hague-based ICC said in a statement.

Goude, 42, faces four counts including murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts for his role in a bloody stand-off that followed a presidential poll in the west African country leaving 3,000 dead, according to the United Nations.

The crisis was sparked after former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to concede defeat at the polls against rival Alassane Ouattara. Gbagbo himself is to go on trial before the ICC on similar charges in July next year.  

As the leader of the "Young Patriots", a fanatical group of Gbagbo supporters, Goude "bears responsibility for some of the worst crimes" committed during the showdown, prosecutors have said.

"In the light of the evidence... the Pre-Trial Chamber concluded that there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Charles Ble Goude is individually criminally responsible for crimes against humanity," the court's judges added on Thursday.

Ble Goude was arrested in Ghana in January 2013 and extradited to the Ivory Coast, but authorities had been hesitant to send him to the world's only permanent war crimes court.

Gbagbo's refusal to stand down in favor of Ouattara after the 2010 polls sparked the bloodshed, mainly in the west African country's commercial capital Abidjan.

During the conflict, Ble Goude -- dubbed Gbagbo's "Street General" -- whipped up support for Gbagbo with fiery speeches urging mass mobilization against what he called pro-Ouattara "rebels" and their foreign backers.