Gunfire in Ivory Coast barracks after rebels ‘apologize’ for mutiny
BOUAKE, Ivory Coast: Sporadic gunfire rang out on Thursday night in a military barracks in Ivory Coast’s second city of Bouake, where a mutiny erupted in January, an AFP journalist said.
The shots were heard just hours after national television broadcast a ceremony in which a soldier presented as a spokesman for 8,400 former rebels, many of them based in Bouake, said they wished to apologize to President Alassane Ouattara for the mutiny.
In January, former rebels integrated into army ranks staged a mutiny that paralyzed activity in several towns of the west African country while they pressed their demands for bonuses.
In meeting the demands of the ex-rebels, who controlled the northern half of Africa’s biggest cocoa producer between 2002 and 2011, authorities provoked a fresh mutiny by other troops and paramilitary gendarmes.
Clashes claimed four lives in the political capital Yamoussoukro.
The mutineers, who demanded 12 million CFA francs ($19,576) in payments for each soldier, obtained five million francs in January and had been due to receive the rest of the sum this month, according to the rebels. The government had refused to give details of the negotiations.
The AFP journalist said gunfire was heard throughout the night at the 3rd infantry battalion’s Bouake barracks, and soldiers also fired in the air at the northern entrance to the city.
There was no immediate indication as to the reasons for the gunfire.