Ivory Coast's internationally recognized president called for peace and reconciliation after his rival was arrested with the help of French forces, but he faces a huge task reuniting a country shattered by civil war.
Alassane Ouattara, who won a November presidential election according to U.N.-certified results, can finally begin asserting his authority over the West African country after Gbagbo was captured on Monday -- ending more than four months of stand-off that descended into all-out conflict.
Gbagbo, who had refused to step down after 10 years in power, was arrested after French forces in the former colony closed in on the bunker where he had been holed up for the past week, and placed under the control of Ouattara's forces.
That leaves Ouattara as the sole leader in charge of the country, although many analysts say it may not be enough to end the fighting that has bloodied the world's top cocoa grower over the past few weeks.
"I call my fellow countrymen to abstain from all form of reprisal and violence," Ouattara said in a speech on his TCI television late on Monday, calling for "a new era of hope."
"Our country has turned a painful page in its history," he said, urging marauding youth militias to lay down their weapons and promising to restore security to the battered nation.
Ethnic violence has festered during Ouattara's lengthy tug-of-war with Gbagbo, particularly in the west of the country, with hundreds of people killed as both sides to the conflict committed atrocities against civilians, aid groups say.
Ouattara said Gbagbo, his wife and aides who have been detained will face justice. But he also promised a South African-styled Truth and Reconciliation Commission to shed light on all crimes and human rights abuses.
IMMEDIATE CHALLENGE
In the commercial capital Abidjan, where people have been trapped into their homes with little food or water as fighting raged for 10 days, Ouattara faces a more immediate challenge.
Dwindling supplies as well as frequent power cuts and a shortage of medicines have led aid workers to warn about a humanitarian disaster unless the authorities can act swiftly.
Ouattara called for calm and said he had asked his police and gendarmerie forces as well as U.N. and French troops to help restore security.
Gbagbo himself, looking submissive and slightly startled, briefly spoke on Ouattara's TCI television and called for an end to the fighting after his arrest.
But it is not clear whether pro-Gbagbo's militias, who promised to fight to the bitter end and still control parts of Abidjan will now heed calls to lay down their weapons, nor if the 46 percent of Ivorians who voted for Gbagbo in the election will accept his defeat.
"Ouattara has to play this very carefully, to manage tensions at home and placate the domestic constituents of Gbagbo and so resolve not just the electoral dispute but also in effect a 10-year-long civil war," said Mark Schroeder at political risk consultancy Stratfor.
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