Ivory Coast ex-president's trial to begin

The trial of Ivory Coast ex-President Laurent Gbagbo for crimes against humanity is set to begin at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He faces charges relating to the country's civil conflict that erupted after he lost elections in 2010.

Gbagbo becomes the first former head of state to stand trial at the court in The Hague.

Both Gbagbo, 70, and his co-accused, former militia leader Charles Ble Goude, 44, say they are innocent.

"The trial is an opportunity for reconciliation," Gbagbo's lawyer Emmanuel Altit said. "It is for this reason that he awaits it with confidence."

A lawyer for Ble Goude, who is accused of organising attacks on opposition supporters, described his client as a "man of peace".

Gbagbo sparked a crisis in Ivory Coast after he refused to step down following his loss to Alassane Ouattara in the 2010 presidential vote.

Some 3,000 people were killed in the civil conflict that ensued, with Gbagbo holing up in the presidential palace.

He was arrested in April 2011, by forces loyal to President Ouattara backed by French troops, and later in that year extradited to The Hague.

It will be the highest-profile trial yet for the ICC, which has only convicted two Congolese warlords since its establishment in 2002.

Gbagbo and Ble Goude are accused of four charges - murder, rape, attempted murder and persecution.

Gbagbo's supporters accuse the ICC of overlooking alleged crimes by his opponents, many of whom are now in power.

But this was rejected by ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who said investigations into the pro-Ouattara camp had been "intensified".

The trial aims to "uncover the truth", Bensouda told reporters.

Gbagbo is the first ex-head of state to appear at the ICC, although Liberia's former President Charles Taylor also stood trial at The Hague.

He appeared before the Special Court for Sierra Leone and was given a 50-year jail sentence in 2012 on charges of aiding and abetting war crimes during the civil war in Sierra Leone, which neighbours Liberia.

The ICC has been accused by some in Africa of unfairly targeting the continent.

An attempt to prosecute Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta over post-election violence failed amid allegations witnesses had been intimidated.

This week however the ICC authorised an investigation into possible war crimes committed during the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia - the first inquiry into a conflict outside Africa.