Experts say uprising is about pay grievances rather than the beginning of a coup d’etat

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Mutinous soldiers demanding pay and perks have seized control of three cities in Ivory Coast, raising fears of new instability in the west African state.



The rebellion in Bouaké, a city of half a million inhabitants 220 miles (350km) north of the economic capital Abidjan, broke out overnight as soldiers attacked armouries and ammunition stores. Gunfire was heard into Friday morning as troops reportedly attacked police stations and a state broadcasting studio. Streets in the city were largely empty and shops, schools, offices and businesses closed. Local people said armed soldiers were patrolling streets.

By late afternoon, further disturbances were reported in two other cities: Daloa, in the country’s centre, and Korhogo, in the north.

“They are heavily armed and parading through the city of Daloa,” said Karim Sanogo, a student who lives there. “Security forces have abandoned their posts. Everyone has returned home to seek shelter.”

People in Korhogo described “roads held by soldiers”.

Ivory Coast, a former French colony, has suffered a series of mutinies by troops over recent decades, most recently in 2008. One, in 1999, led to a coup d’etat.

However, experts said the current rebellion appeared to be about basic grievances rather than the start of a political campaign.

“The soldiers are presenting demands, not charging the State House to take over. In some ways they are opening a dialogue with politicians. They don’t have many ways to express grievances,” said Maggie Dwyer, an expert in mutinies in Africa at Edinburgh University. “There are ways a mutiny can escalate to a coup but generally speaking they are rooted in the corporate interests of the rank and file.”

The exact demands of the mutineers is unclear but AFP news agency quoted a mutinous soldier saying that the demands were for €10,000 and a house.

“If we don’t get what we want we won’t return to the barracks,” the soldier said.

Alain-Richard Donwahi, the defence minister, said the mutineers were demanding pay, bonuses for service overseas and accelerated promotion and appeared to promise negotiations on Friday afternoon.

“It is asked that all soldiers remain calm and return to barracks so that lasting solutions can be found,” said Donwahi in a statement read on state-owned television.

Ivory Coast has recently enjoyed relative stability and rapid economic growth, but the scars left by a decade of intermittent civil war, which ended in 2011, are still evident.

In the most recent unrest, 3,000 people died in violence after longtime president Laurent Gbagbo lost the 2010 presidential election and then refused to cede power to victor Alassane Ouattara. After a military intervention, Ouattara became president and Gbagbo now faces charges at the international criminal court.

Ouattara has received credit for overseeing Ivory Coast’s resurgence, but has struggled to reform an army long riven by ethnic and political divisions.

An earlier mutiny in 2014 involved former members of the New Forces rebels, who fought alongside UN and French troops to install Ouattara in power.

France has a military presence in Ivory Coast, with most of its 900 troops stationed in and near Abidjan. It was not immediately known whether the Ivory Coast government had asked for their help in calming the situation, as it has in the past.

• This article was amended on 10 January 2017 to describe Abidjan as the economic capital of Ivory Coast; the official capital is Yamoussoukro.