{"id":282908,"date":"2017-01-08T15:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T15:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=282908"},"modified":"2017-01-08T15:00:12","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T15:00:12","slug":"calm-returns-to-ivory-coast-after-unrest-over-soldiers-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=282908","title":{"rendered":"Calm returns to Ivory Coast after unrest over soldiers’ pay"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rebellion in Ivory Coast over soldiers’ pay appears to have passed.<\/p>\n

Residents and correspondents in the second city, Bouake, described calm on the streets – a day after troops briefly seized the defence minister.<\/p>\n

The rebellion had spread from there to other cities, including the commercial hub, Abidjan, but that city, too, is now quiet.<\/p>\n

A deal was struck between the mutinous soldiers and the government on Saturday, though details are scant.<\/p>\n

A correspondent for AFP news agency in Bouake said on Sunday that there had been no firing there since Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

“Traffic has resumed this morning and the shops have reopened.”<\/p>\n

Ivory Coast profile<\/strong><\/p>\n

The mutiny began in Bouake early on Friday with soldiers firing rocket-launchers. On Saturday soldiers took over the army headquarters in Abidjan.<\/p>\n

Protests also took place in the cities of Man, Daloa, Daoukro, Odienne and Korhogo.<\/p>\n

President Alassane Ouattara went on national TV on Saturday night to announce a deal.<\/p>\n

“I confirm that I have agreed to take into account the demands of the soldiers over bonuses and better working conditions,” he said. At the same time he criticised the rebellion.<\/p>\n

Aside from better pay, the agreement is reported to include an amnesty for the mutineers.<\/p>\n

Defence Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi – who had gone to Bouake to negotiate with the protesters – was held for two hours there late on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The mutiny raised fears of a resurgence of the violence seen during Ivory Coast’s 10-year civil war, which ended in 2011.<\/p>\n

\"Map\"<\/span><\/figure>\n

Some of the mutineers were thought to be former rebels who joined the army after the conflict.<\/p>\n

The rebels swept into Abidjan from Bouake in 2011, helping Mr Ouattara take power after his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo – now on trial at the International Criminal Court – refused to accept defeat in elections the previous year.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rebellion in Ivory Coast over soldiers’ pay appears to have passed. Residents and correspondents in the second city, Bouake, described calm on the streets – a day after troops briefly seized the defence minister. The rebellion had spread from there to other cities, including the commercial hub, Abidjan, but that city, too, is now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,11],"tags":[241,2707],"class_list":["post-282908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-top-stories","tag-ivory-coast","tag-soldiers-pay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282908\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}