By Stefan Meisel.

Gbagbo's refusal to vacate the office had pushed the country into turmoil, with the U.N. and several African countries applying economic and then military pressure while a new civil war threatened to consume the Ivory Coast:

"The dispute over the presidency had pushed the world’s largest cocoa producer to the brink of a renewed civil war, with hundreds of civilians slain in postelection violence."

The winner of last November's election, Alassane Ouattara, will now assume power as his forces hold Gbagbo prisoner:

"When attempts by African leaders to mediate the conflict failed, Mr. Ouattara's rebel forces launched an offensive, sweeping south and capturing key towns and ports that Mr. Gbagbo's army once held.

That advance stalled outside the main Ivory Coast city of Abidjan, a stronghold for Mr. Gbagbo's supporters. It was only when the U.N. and Licorne, or Unicorn—the French battalion stationed in Abidjan—launched a series of aerial attacks that the rebels were able to encircle the former Ivory Coast president in his residence." 

Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast, had been in danger of becoming a humanitarian disaster, Doctors Without Borders warned Sunday:

"Widespread cuts in water supply come as medicines are running out, while violent militias are dissuading many from venturing out into the streets to seek food already retailing at multiples of its peace-time price.

'It is a city of four million, most of whom don't have access to health facilities,' MSF Abidjan Field Coordinator Henry Gray told Reuters in a telephone interview from his downtown office, as fire from automatic weapons rang out in the background."

Things quickly headed downhill for Gbagbo beginning April 4, when U.N. and French forces fired rockets on his weapons arsenal and surrounding his home with tanks.

Unfortunately for the citizens of Ivory Coast, their incoming president Ouattara has also been accused of human rights atrocities there.

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for Gbagbo to be treated with "respect" and afforded due process now that he is in Ouattara's custody.