Ivory Coast has issued international arrest warrants for firebrand youth leader Charles Ble Goude and other close aides of former President Laurent Gbagbo, the Abidjan prosecutor said yesterday.

“Arrest warrants have been issued against suspects on the run,” including Mr Ble Goude, who led Mr Gbagbo’s Young Patriots, and former government spokesman Ahoua Don Mello, the prosecutor Simplice Kouadio Koffi told a news briefing.

Mr Ble Goude, who long supported Mr Gbagbo during his 10 years in power, was the rebel-rousing head of the youth movement held responsible for violence in Abidjan and elsewhere against foes of the former head of state.

Mr Gbagbo’s refusal to acknowledge defeat to Alassane Ouattara in last November’s election led to a stand-off of nearly five months and finally ended with Mr Gbagbo’s arrest in April after weeks of armed conflict in the commercial capital.

Mr Ble Goude also rallied his youth followers to attack troops from ex-colonial ruler France and the UN peacekeeping mission as the international community recognised Mr Ouattara as the west African country’s new President.

Under UN sanctions since 2006, Mr Ble Goude has reportedly been spotted in Benin and Ghana, where several figures from the Mr Gbago regime have gone into exile.

The arrest warrants also target Mr Gbagbo’s former industry minister Philippe Attey and the Ivory Coast’s former ambassador to Israel Raymond Koudou Kessie.

The authorities know “very well where these people can be found,” the prosecutor added without elaborating. The Gbagbo allies are being sought in connection with an investigation into theft, misuse of public funds, pillage and damage to the public economy by the former regime.

The probe led to 15 people being charged and placed in protective custody last week and six more over the past few days, the prosecutor said.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has asked judges for permission to probe alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the aftermath of the disputed Presidential poll.