Ivory Coast has announced a deal to end a standoff with soldiers who had staged a mutiny last week, though the terms were not confirmed and it was unclear whether security would be fully restored in Africa's fastest-growing economy.
The deal was reached after tense negotiations in Bouake, the country's second-largest city, between soldiers and a delegation led by the defense minister, government spokesman Bruno Kone said yesterday.
In the hours before the deal was announced, hundreds of soldiers converged on the house where the negotiations were taking place, and gunfire erupted at multiple military bases in Abidjan, the commercial capital.
The mutineers' demands included unpaid bonuses, higher salaries, faster promotions and improved living conditions. The bonuses amounted to nearly $20,000 each for more than 8,000 soldiers, according to several people who participated in the negotiations.
Officials would not confirm the terms of the deal, but one soldier, who insisted on anonymity, said the government had agreed to pay the bonuses in installments beginning with payments of over $8,000 to each soldier on Monday. If accurate, the resolution could end up costing the government over $150 million for the bonuses alone.
It is the second time the government has announced a deal to end the standoff. President Alassane Ouattara said a deal was reached Jan 7, one day after the mutiny began.
But almost as soon as that first deal was announced, some soldiers in Bouake made clear they were dissatisfied with it, firing their weapons and temporarily holding the defense minister hostage.
Ouattara came to power in 2011 after a postelection crisis that claimed more than 3,000 lives. The crisis was triggered by former President Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to accept defeat and step down. It capped more than a decade of turmoil that began with the country's first coup in 1999.
Ivory Coast has seen about 10 mutinies since 1990, with the most recent taking place in 2014.
Ouattara has criticized the soldiers' tactics during the latest crisis, and many Ivorians expressed frustration with the renewed unrest. Before the talks began yesterday, soldiers fired weapons to disperse a protest by civilians in Bouake who were angry that the standoff had disrupted economic activity in the city, said Fanta Kourouma, a Bouake resident.
The security situation deteriorated quickly yesterday evening, with soldiers assuming control of main roads in Bouake. Phone service to the city was severely impaired for several hours.
In Abidjan, witnesses reported gunfire at military installations in the residential Cocody district and in the central Plateau district, where Camp Gallieni, the army headquarters, is located.
A gendarmerie official in Plateau, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press, said he heard shots near the gendarmerie headquarters there. "They chased our guys from their post," he said, referring to the mutinous soldiers.
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