Former president of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo has filed for divorce Monday from his wife of three decades, his lawyer said, days after his highly anticipated return to the country.

Gbagbo's lawyer Claude Mentenon said in a statement that after years of "repeated rejected requests for Simone Ehivet to consent to an amicable separation", the ex-president had asked an Abidjan court for a divorce.

Atiewin Mbillah-Lawson reports.