U.N. to probe Ivorian atrocities

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 12 (UPI) -- With world leaders breathing a sigh of relief as an Ivorian stalemate ends, a U.N. council said Tuesday it was sending a team to examine possible atrocities.

The United Nations estimates more than 500 people were killed in western Ivory Coast since the end of March, adding to the more than 400 reported dead since contested November elections sparked escalating conflicts in the former French colony.

Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down despite a U.N. Security Council Resolution recognizing rival Alassane Ouattara as the winner of an election meant to unite a country divided by civil war.

French military forces supported a raid Monday on a presidential compound in Abidjan that lead to Gbagbo's capture after a lengthy military standoff.

"I regret that the full transfer of power to Alassane Ouattara could only be achieved at the price of human lives and of a grave humanitarian crisis," said President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek in a statement.

The U.N. Human Rights Council announced Tuesday it was sending a team to Ivory Coast to investigate possible atrocities committed since the November election. Human rights groups blame both sides for the devastating violence in the world's top cocoa-producing nation.

Issiaka Konate, an Ouattara spokesman in London, told al-Jazeera that it was Gbagbo's fault that Ivory Coast descended into civil conflict after the election.

"Had Mr. Gbagbo stepped down peacefully, so many things that happened after the election wouldn't have happened," he was quoted as saying.