- Title: Ivory Coast defence minister in talks with soldiers to end mutiny
- Date: 7th January 2017
- Summary: BOUAKE, IVORY COAST (JANUARY 7, 2017) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** WIDE OF MEETING ROOM WITH IVORY COAST DEFENCE MINISTER ALAIN-RICHARD DONWAHI AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SOLDIERS THAT CARRIED OUT MUTINY IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE COUNTRY SITTING DONWAHI SITTING AT MEETING VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS SITTING AT MEETING PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE MEETING VENUE ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (JANUARY 7, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF IVORY COAST PRESIDENT ALASSANE OUATTARA ARRIVING BACK IN ABIDJAN FROM ACCRA, GHANA
- Embargoed: 22nd January 2017 16:59
- Keywords: Ivory Coast military mutiny defence minister Alain-Richard Donwahi president Alassane Ouattara
- Location: BOUAKE AND ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- City: BOUAKE AND ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
- Reuters ID: LVA0015Y2Z687
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART QUALITY AS INCOMING
Ivory Coast Defence Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi sat down in Bouake on Saturday (January 7) with military representatives of the soldiers that took over cities and military bases across the country on Friday (January 6). The rogue soldiers are demanding higher wages and bonuses.
As he sat down, Ivory Coast President Alassane Outtarra flew back from Accra, in Ghana, where he attended the swearing-in of Ghana new president Nana Akufo-Addo. He was set to chair a special cabinet meeting in the afternoon.
The uprising began early on Friday (January 6) when disgruntled soldiers seized Bouake, the country's second-largest city. The government promised talks to try and diffuse the situation.
But the revolt rapidly gained momentum on Saturday as angry soldiers took to the streets in town after town, often firing their guns in the air and warning residents to return home. Gunfire also broke out in Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan, where the president, administration and parliament are based.
The mutinying soldiers entered the compound housing the defence ministry in Ivory Coast's military headquarters on Saturday.
Ivory Coast - French-speaking West Africa's largest economy - has emerged from a 2002-11 political crisis as one of the continent's rising economic stars.
However, years of conflict and a failure to reform its army, thrown together from a patchwork of former rebel fighters and government soldiers, have left it with an unruly force hobbled by internal divisions. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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