Ivory Coast government reaches deal with soldiers
President Ouattara says accord was reached for better salaries, living conditions
The New York Times
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Negotiations on Saturday appeared to have averted a protracted standoff between soldiers and the government in a military revolt in Ivory Coast, a country that has prided itself on political and economic stability in recent years.
President Alassane Ouattara said late in the day that the government had reached an agreement with disgruntled soldiers who had demanded higher salaries and better living conditions. But Mr. Ouattara criticized the rebellious troops over the manner of their protest.
“I would say that this way of claim is not appropriate,” Mr. Ouattara said. “In fact, it tarnished the image of our country after all our economic development efforts.”
According to witnesses, gunfire erupted early on Saturday at a military camp known as old Akouedo in a residential area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s largest city and economic capital.
Rebel soldiers from one battalion in the city erected barricades to prevent residents from moving around, raising concerns that the situation was deteriorating. Citizens in several cities reported that soldiers were patrolling the streets, some firing shots in the air. In Toulepleu, soldiers seized vehicles from citizens, according to Serzh Kouehi, a resident. Shots rang out throughout Friday night in the northern cities of Korhogo and Bouaké. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
“People are afraid because the soldiers all have weapons,” said Estelle Koussi, a resident of Man, a city in the mountainous west of Ivory Coast, where the revolt has also spread.
On Saturday, Alain Richard Donwahi, the country’s defense minister, arrived in Bouaké, where the uprising appeared to have started, for talks with the rebellious soldiers, whose demands included raises, bonuses and shorter tenures of service. One challenge faced by the government negotiators was the lack of a clear leader of the mutiny with whom to deal.
The mutiny seemed to have taken Ivorian officials by surprise. Mr. Ouattara was in Ghana on Saturday for the inauguration of a new president there, but he returned to Ivory Coast for an emergency meeting with his ministers. The mayor of Bouaké, Nicolas Djibo, was out of town on Friday when the mutiny began and rushed home to address the crisis.
The Ivorian military has remained fractured as the government struggles to effectively integrate the rebels who helped install Mr. Ouattara in 2011 after his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to accept an electoral defeat.
“The Ivorian Army for a long time now has been very volatile,” said Rinaldo Depagne, West Africa project director for the International Crisis Group. He said there was a huge gap in compensation between top- and lower-level officers.
A similar revolt occurred in November 2014, when thousands of Ivory Coast soldiers left their barracks to demand back pay and benefits. The government agreed at the time to meet the demands of the former rebel fighters, but those grievances have lingered.
“The conditions in which these guys live are appalling,” said Mr. Depagne, who visited military barracks around the time of the 2014 mutiny. “It doesn’t match with the wealth of the country.”
Julien Kouaho, an author who writes about Ivorian politics, said the rebellion needed to be resolved quickly or the nation’s economy and political system would suffer. “The government must take this seriously,” he said. “The military is not made to be in the streets, but in the barracks.”
Ivory Coast has seen an economic resurgence in recent years, shaking off the violence and turmoil that had long plagued the country. Bridges and roads have been built and big companies that fled during the years of turmoil have been lured back.
Mr. Kouaho said the actions of the rebels could have far-reaching consequences.