Calm Returns to Ivory Coast City After Military Dispute

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Calm returned to Ivory Coast’s second-biggest city of Bouake after a group of soldiers attacked a military special unit and ransacked its administrative headquarters late Tuesday.

“This morning it’s calm,” Bouake mayor Nicolas Djibo said by phone Wednesday. “The population is going to work.”

The soldiers fired shots as they approached the base of the elite unit, known as the CCDO, setting vehicles and property alight, the defense ministry said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. The skirmish was caused by a dispute between factions in the military, government spokesman Bruno Kone told reporters in the commercial capital, Abidjan, adding that more information will be available after a meeting of the national security council on Thursday.

The government has troops with helicopters and light armored vehicles on standby to maintain peace, he said.

Soldiers in Bouake instigated a spate of army revolts last year to demand bonuses, leaving some cities paralyzed for as many as four days until the government agreed to negotiate payments. The unrest then prompted civil servants to organize a strike over pay, forcing the world’s biggest cocoa producer to trim its budget and accept financial support from the International Monetary Fund to deal with the settlements.