A former Ivory Coast minister and key ally of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo said on Wednesday that he fears torture if he is extradited back to Ivory Coast from Ghana.

Justin Kone Katinan, Gbagbo's spokesman and an ex-budget minister, has been fighting extradition since authorities in neighboring Ghana arrested him last August.

Warlord military commanders in Ivory Coast are making hundreds of millions of dollars by plundering the country's exports of cocoa and other resources, according to a report by U.N. experts.

Forces Nouvelles militia leaders who took the side of President Alassane Ouattara in his showdown with Laurent Gbagbo in 2011 are part of a "military-economic network" taking advantage of "rampant" smuggling and parallel tax networks, said the report.

Ivorians turned out in low numbers for Sunday's local elections, seen as a test of stability in the west African nation in a poll boycotted by former president Laurent Gbagbo's party.

The U.N. had appealed for calm after skirmishes during the election campaign, voicing hope that the vote would help put the country on the path to "genuine democracy".

"African" curves or an "international" silhouette? On the airwaves and the catwalks of Ivory Coast, a war of words has broken out between admirers of voluptuous female figures and those who plump for a more streamlined, traditionally Western, shape.

The young Ivorian singer "Princesse Amour" is hoping for a hit with her song celebrating "lalas", the name she has given to slender, small-breasted women.

President Michel Suleiman stated on Friday that the Lebanese authorities “are in charge of preventing gunmen from sneaking into Syrian territories”, reiterating the cabinet's disassociation policy towards the neighboring country's conflict.

"The army is responsible for prohibiting any violations of the Baabda Declaration on the border with Syria,” Suleiman said in a joint press conference with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara.

President Michel Suleiman has stressed that Lebanon will continue to implement a U.N. resolution that halted the Israel-Hizbullah war in 2006 in an attempt to restore sovereignty on all its territories.

“With the support of the international community, Lebanon will continue to work to implement Security Council resolution 1701 in an effort to restore sovereignty on all its territories,” Suleiman said on Thursday during a dinner banquet thrown by the President of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, in his honor.

At least six people, including two soldiers, were killed when an armed gang attacked a village in strife-prone western Ivory Coast, an officer of the Republican Army (FRCI) said Thursday.

"An attack against the village of Zilebly overnight on Tuesday led to the death of six people, including two members of the FRCI," the officer said, asking not to be be named.

President Michel Suleiman headed on Tuesday to Africa on an 8-day tour at the head of a delegation, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The President will hold talks with senior African officials in Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria in addition to the Lebanese community in those countries.

Clashes between soldiers and residents left two dead and three injured in southeastern Ivory Coast, the government said Wednesday.

Locals clashed with troops from the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI) on Sunday and Monday "causing the death of two people and injuring three" in the village of Affery, said a statement from the council of ministers.

Ivorian ex-president Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday appeared before International Criminal Court judges who will decide whether there is enough evidence to try him for masterminding a bloody election standoff two years ago.

Presiding judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi opened the confirmation of charges hearing while Gbagbo, the first former head of state before the court, greeted journalists and supporters in the gallery with a wave.