BOUAKÉ, Ivory Coast: Hundreds of renegade
soldiers blocked
access to Ivory Coast’s
second-largest city on Saturday after firing guns into the air throughout the night, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
Rebellious
soldiers had already taken to the streets on Friday in Bouake as well as in the eco**mic capital of Abidjan and a**ther city, demanding hefty pay increases.
The
city of Bouake was the epicentre of a mutiny in January by former
Rebel soldiers who had been integrated into the army, which triggered months of unrest.
Defiant
soldiers also took to the streets in the central
city of Daloa, a trading centre, after firing their guns in the air overnight, and nighttime shooting was also heard in Korhogo, the main
city in the country’s **rth.
The situation remained calm however in Abidjan on Saturday, a day after the rebelling
soldiers had surrounded the military’s headquarters in the
city before being driven back by loyalist forces. "We want our money", a soldier wearing a facemask said in Bouake on Saturday, refusing to give his name.
The
soldiers forced the police who **rmally control the four main
access points to Bouake to flee, before taking up positions and blocking all traffic into the city. They were also taking up positions elsewhere in the
city and continuing to fire sporadically into the air, and banks and stores remained closed on Saturday morning.
Late on Friday, General Sekou Toure, chief of staff of Ivory Coast’s armed forces, warned of "severe disciplinary sanctions" for the soldiers.
But negotiations on Saturday between the rebels and military commanders in Bouake failed to end the blockade of the city, and rebels warned they would fight back if the army tried to intervene.
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