UN troops head to Bouake, Ivory Coast defence minister says negotiating with disgruntled soldiers
Record ID:
163254
UN troops head to Bouake, Ivory Coast defence minister says negotiating with disgruntled soldiers
- Title: UN troops head to Bouake, Ivory Coast defence minister says negotiating with disgruntled soldiers
- Date: 6th January 2017
- Summary: OUTSIDE BOUAKE, IVORY COAST (JANUARY 6, 2017) (REUTERS) MUTINOUS SOLDIERS BLOCKING TRAFFIC ABOUT 5 KM FROM THE CITY IN THE 'BOUAKE CORRIDOR' ROAD LEADING INTO THE CITY LINE OF BLOCKED TRUCKS ON THE ROAD UNITED NATIONS ARMOURED VEHICLES ON THE ROAD WAITING TO ENTER BOUAKE VARIOUS OF UN SOLDIERS DRIVERS OUT OF CARS AND STANDING ON THE ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (French) STRANDED DRIVER, CHEICK KANTE, SAYING: "I am on my way to Bamako and all of a sudden I found myself here and you can see what is going on. (Q: What are they telling you?) Well they are telling us there is a mutiny and that we can't go through, something about unpaid salaries, that sort of thing." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING TO ENTER BOUAKE BIG TRUCK PASSING VARIOUS OF QUEUE OF TRUCKS BLOCKED IN DJEBONOUA (ABOUT 20 KM. FROM BOUAKE) (SOUNDBITE) (French) TRUCKER ALLASSANE KONE SAYING: "From Yamoussoukro (next big city south of Bouake) we got information about the situation and we have been waiting here since 9.30 this morning and we are waiting here." UN CONVOY DRIVING TO BOUAKE
- Embargoed: 21st January 2017 23:18
- Keywords: Ivory Coast military uprising Bouake United Nations Defence minister Alain-Richard Donwahi troops
- Location: OUTSKIRTS OF BOUAKE AND ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- City: OUTSKIRTS OF BOUAKE AND ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0015XY2KW7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The United Nations sent soldiers to Bouake, Ivory Coast's second largest city, after disgruntled soldiers seized control demanding better pay.
For a while they waited in line with hundreds of stranded cars and trucks whose passage was blocked by the mutinous soldiers.
The uprising spread to several other cities.
Earlier in the day national television RTI read a statement from Defence Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi saying a group of soldiers had used their weapons to force their way into the military headquarters in Bouake soon after midnight and then made their demands.
On the evening news bulletin at 2000 GMT, Donwahi said he had received a list of demands from the soldiers.
"Mainly, they revolved around the issue of payment, timely bonuses, around grades, the time it takes to get to the superior grade. There were also demands relating to the living conditions for soldiers, and they also want clarification on a supposed ECOMOG bonus," Donwahi said.
He said the soldiers' action was "deplorable" since the country was coming out of a deep crisis but understandable. He said he would go to Bouake on Saturday to talk to the mutineering soldiers.
"We shall talk with our men, collect their concerns and then find solutions to this situation which is deplorable, it's understandable but still deplorable because of the image of our country, because of the work done by the president of the republic since coming out of the crisis, to demonstrate in this way can be prejudicial to our country but we understand what happened," he said.
Donwahi was speaking after an emergency meeting with other members of the National Security Council, including President Alassane Ouattara and top military officers.
Heavy gunfire was heard from around 2 a.m. (0200 GMT) in the city of around half a million inhabitants, but later died down.
Shooting also broke out at a base in Daloa, the main trading hub in the western cocoa belt, and residents said soldiers, some of them masked, were patrolling the streets in 4x4s.
The Defence Minister said 5 cities had been affected by mutinous soldiers.
Bouake was the seat of a rebellion that controlled the northern half of the country from 2002, until Ivory Coast was reunited following a civil war in 2011.
Most of those involved in the mutiny appeared to be former rebels who were integrated into the army.
Stranded drivers who had been stuck since the early morning said they had received very little information.
"I am on my way to Bamako and all of a sudden I found myself here and you can see what is going on (what are they telling you?) Well, they are telling us there is a mutiny and that we can't go through, something about unpaid salaries, that sort of thing," said Cheick Kante.
"From Yamoussoukro (next big city south of Bouake) we got information about the situation and we have been waiting here since 9:30 this morning and we are waiting here," said Alassane Kone.
The mutineering soldiers and the UN troops who had come to meet them refused to comment on the situation. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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