International
IVORY COAST: Soldiers revolt over pay dispute
A pay dispute involving the army in Ivory Coast which has been gathering momentum has snowballed into a mutiny as soldiers left their barracks and blocked streets in several towns and cities across Ivory Coast on Friday.
Reports say angry soldiers who are protesting gathered in the commercial capital, firing volleys of gunshots into the air to register their displeasure over the pay dispute which has been festering for a while now.
According to reports, the soldiers, most of them rebel fighters, 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.
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On Thursday, a spokesman for 8,400 soldiers who took part in the January rebellion said they would forego demands for more money after meeting with authorities in Abidjan.
“That’s not what they were meant to say,” said one leader of the January mutiny who had remained in Bouake and asked not to be named, explaining the soldiers’ actions.
Reports say the government paid the 8,400 troops behind January’s rebellion bonuses of 5 million CFA francs ($8,370) each as part of an agreement to end that mutiny.
The soldiers were due a staggered payment of an additional 7 million CFA francs. But they said the government asked for a delay in payment to ease financial pressure on the Treasury, citing a collapse in cocoa revenues, a development which has not gone down well with the soldiers and has now caused a mutiny.
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