ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, June 14 (UPI) -- A former defense minister from Ivory Coast, now in custody, said he had information about a plot to overthrow the Ivorian government of Alassane Ouattara.
Ouattara was recognized as the winner of a 2010 presidential election, defeating incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo. Political conflict that followed the contest threatened to push the country to civil war.
Ivorian Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said arrests were made in a plot to topple the Ouattara government, the BBC reports. The plot was allegedly tied to Liberian fighters and pro-Gbagbo forces suspected of killing U.N. peacekeepers last week.
Former Defense Minister Moise Lida Kouassi, transferred from exile in Togo to a prison in Abidjan last week, said he had information about the plot.
"The documents that were seized during my arrest at my house in Lome did concern a transition and a crisis communication in Ivory Coast," he was quoted as saying.
Kouassi was defense minister in 2002 when a coup attempt pushed the country into civil war. He remained a key ally to Gbagbo.
Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
