bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

One person died Sunday after mutinous soldiers took to the streets in Ivory Coast’s central second city Bouake as fresh tensions gripped the world’s top cocoa grower.
The victim was among five men and a mother-of-three who were hospitalised after being struck by warning shots fired to keep residents inside their homes.
About 15 others were treated for minor injuries.
“(He), Issouf Diawara, finally died from his bullet wounds,” his brother Souleymane Diawara said. “I am a distraught man.”
Diawara was hit on Saturday amid clashes between former rebels, some of whom have now been integrated into the army, and those who have disarmed but not integrated.
The two groups are clashing over government payments.


Under a deal negotiated with the government in January, struck after the ex-rebel soldiers’ first mutiny, they were to be paid bonuses of 12 million CFA francs (18,000 euros) each, with an initial payment of five million francs that month.
The remainder was to be paid starting this month, according to rebel sources.
But the government has struggled to pay the soldiers the promised money, while the non-military ex-fighters are now demanding their own government payments.
The soldiers revolted over the bonus payments by taking to the streets on Friday and blocked access to Bouake, which served as the rebel headquarters after a failed 2002 coup which split Ivory Coast in half and led to years of unrest.
Several Bouake residents were beaten by patrolling renegade soldiers.
Another person was injured by soldiers rebelling in Korhogo, the main city in the north.
Armed forces chief of staff, General Sekou Toure, said in a statement Sunday that “a military operation is underway to re-establish order” and made a televised appeal to the disgruntled soldiers to return to barracks.
Later the protesting soldiers reopened access to Bouake, while still insisting on the promised money and refusing to hand in their guns.
“We want the money, that’s all. There’s nothing to discuss,” one of them said, after firing his Kalashnikov rifle into the air.
The mutineers also attacked the headquarters of President Alassane Ouattara’s ruling Rally of Republicans RDR party.
“Everyone who was there was badly beaten. There are many injured,” party official Moriba Toure said.
Korhogo residents had gathered to protest against the mutiny but were dispersed by the rebellious soldiers.
Troops have also rebelled in the central city of Daloa, a major trading hub in Ivory Coast’s cocoa belt.
On Sunday, rebels took up positions on a roundabout in front of Bouake’s police headquarters, shooting into the air to prevent residents gathering for a planned protest against their revolt.
“There’s too much shooting this morning, it’s practically impossible to go and attend mass. I’ll pray with my family at home,” local resident Jean Yves Kobena said.
Bouake was the epicentre of the mutiny in January by the former rebel soldiers who had been integrated into the army.
Negotiations Saturday between the rebels and military commanders in Bouake failed to end the blockade and the rebels warned they would fight back if the army tried to intervene.
“They can send whoever they want. We’re ready,” said one of several masked soldiers at one checkpoint.


One dead as mutinous Ivory Coast soldiers take to streets amid pay dispute

Mutinous soldiers stand next to their camp as they protest in a pay dispute in the centre of the Ivory Coast commercial capital Abidjan on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Soldiers of Ivory Coast presidential guard take position in front of mutinying soldiers' camp in the centre of the commercial capital Abidjan, Ivory Coast, May 12, 2017. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

REFILE - REMOVING RESTRICTIONS An unidentified young demonstrator lies unconscious on a bed at the hospital after being injured during a rally against the mutiny, in Bouake, Ivory Coast, May 14, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

News

World

Africa