Signs of more trouble in Ivory Coast as hidden hand saves mutineers
ABIDJAN: When a rag-tag group of soldiers launched a mutiny in Ivory Coast earlier this month, it looked like they were doomed. A column of elite troops quickly descended to put the mutiny down. The rebels were running out of ammunition and the armouries had been locked. Then, the phone rang. According to one of the mutiny leaders, the caller, whose identity the mutineers declined to disclose, told them where they could find weapons: at the home of an aide to the parliament speaker.
The group initially feared a trap, but when they reached the location, they found dozens of crates of rifles, machineguns, grenade launchers and ammunition.
Freshly armed, the mutineers were able to hold their ground.
Swiftly, President Alassane Ouattara’s forces sent in to crush the mutiny began falling apart, according to one Special Forces officer who was part of it.
ThecolumnU-turnedandheaded back to Abidjan, and for a second time this year, mutineers had brought Ouattara’s government to its knees.
The incident exposed the deep dysfunction and lawlessness now jeopardising Ivory Coast’s recovery from a decade of turmoil and civil war.
The previously undisclosed phone call suggests powerful people were willing to help the mutineers. And the army, which still outgunned the rebels, was unwilling to follow orders to put the mutiny down.
“(General) Sekou Toure was giving orders and no one was listening,” a regional security official told Reuters, referring to the military chief of staff. “What does that tell you? There’s no control over the military.”
Ivory Coast, a former French colony known for decades as one of the most stable states in West Africa, is still recovering from a brief civil war fought after Ouattara won a disputed election in 2010 but incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down. — Reuters