The Hague-based court, which is also pursuing Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and investigating alleged crimes in Kenya, Libya and Central African Republic, has so far declined to comment on the warrant.

Gbagbo would be the first former head of state to be tried by the ICC since its inception in 2002.

Last month, the ICC opened an investigation into killings, rapes and other abuses committed during a four-month conflict triggered by Gbagbo's refusal to cede power to Alassane Ouattara in last year's Ivorian election. The conflict ended only when French-backed pro-Ouattara forces captured him on April 11.

Gbagbo had been flown by helicopter on November 29 from remote Korhogo in northern Ivory Coast, where he had been under house arrest since his capture, and transferred on to a plane, Ivorian military officials said.