- Title: Ivory Coast soldiers revolt over bonus pay dispute
- Date: 12th May 2017
- Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (MAY 12, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REPUBLICAN GUARD (PRESIDENTIAL GUARD, WITH RED BERETS) ARRIVING AT MILITARY HEADQUARTERS WHERE THE MUTINEERS ARE REPUBLICAN GUARD SITTING ON TRUCKS MUTINEERS AND REPUBLICAN GUARD NEGOTIATING IN FRONT OF MILITARY HEADQUARTERS MUTINEERS AND REPUBLICAN GUARD NEGOTIATING NEAR MUSEUM VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS STANDING ON STREET AND OBSERVING MUTINEERING SOLDIER WALKING IN FRONT OF MILITARY HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF REPUBLICAN GUARD SITTING ON ARMED TRUCK CARRYING WEAPON MUTINEERING SOLDIER WALKING IN FRONT OF MILITARY HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS STANDING ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (French) ABIDJAN RESIDENT, TIA LACINE, SAYING: "I see this as a bad situation since the soldiers decided to give up on their demands and the president gave his point of view, so it's not normal that other soldiers rise up and paralyse the city. I think that is not normal. But if there are demands i hope it will be done in a courteous way." VARIOUS OF REPUBLICAN GUARD SITTING ON ARMOURED TRUCK SECURING MILITARY HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC DRIVING
- Embargoed: 26th May 2017 16:31
- Keywords: soldiers on streets mutinying soldiers bonus pay dispute military revolt Ivory Coast
- Location: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- City: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA0016GJAP1J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Soldiers left their barracks and blocked streets in several towns and cities across Ivory Coast on Friday (May 12), including the commercial capital, firing gunshots into the air as their protest over a pay dispute gathered momentum.
A Reuters witness saw three pickup trucks carrying elite Republican Guard troops, who fired warning shots that pushed the mutineers back inside the military headquarters compound. A standoff in the heart of the city ensued.
The gunfire in Bouake later eased, residents said, but revolting soldiers remained throughout the city and on the main road leading south towards the administrative capital Yamoussoukro and Abidjan.
The uprising began overnight in Bouake, the second largest city, before spreading quickly. The soldiers, most of them ex-rebel fighters who helped bring President Alassane Ouattara to power, erected improvised barricades around the national military headquarters and the defence ministry, sealing off part of downtown Abidjan.
President Ouattara, the defence and interior ministers and the security forces' leadership convened an emergency meeting to discuss the uprising. Neither the defence minister nor the government's spokesman were available for comment.
The soldiers were revolting over delayed bonus payments, promised by the government after a nationwide mutiny in January but which it has struggled to pay after a collapse in the price of Cocoa, Ivory Coast's main export, hurt national revenues. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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