Abidjan: Several large arms caches in Ivory Coast have been discovered, French troops said, adding these would have been used by former Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo. The weapons, stored at villas in the main city of Abidjan, included mortars, cannons and rockets.
Gbagbo is reportedly being held under house arrest in Abidjan.
French forces led an assault against him on Monday to force him from power. He had refused to accept defeat in a November election.
His rival in last year’s election, Alassane Ouattara, who was internationally recognised as winning the poll, has now taken power.
During the stand-off between Gbagbo and Ouattara about 1,500 people were killed and a million forced from their homes.
French army took journalists to three innocent-looking villas in central Abidjan where they had discovered the weapons.
Media reports say there were enough arms there to launch a new war, more evidence that the dispute over last year’s polls were leading the country into chaos.
The French troops documented the arms before handing them over to African UN soldiers for safe disposal.
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