ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Soldiers launched mutinies in three cities across Ivory Coast on Friday, authorities said, demanding higher pay and bringing the threat of unrest back to Africa's fastest-growing economy.

Gunfire rang out across Bouake, the West African nation's second-largest city, starting around 1 a.m., according to residents. Similar mutinies erupted later in Daloa, in the central region, and Korhogo in the north.

"They are heavily armed and parading through the city of Daloa," said Karim Sanogo, a student who lives there. "Security forces have abandoned their posts. Everyone has returned home to seek shelter."

Defense Minister Alain Donwahi said discussions were underway with the soldiers, and he called on all troops to return to their barracks.

A former French colony, Ivory Coast's reputation as a model of political stability in a region better known for conflict was shattered after its first coup in 1999. The crisis reached rock bottom in 2002, when fighting erupted in the city of Abidjan.

That was the start of a civil war that ended months later in a stalemate that left rebels in control of the northern half of the country, with their stronghold in Bouake.

A breakthrough came in 2007 with a peace deal that saw rebel leader Guillaume Soro appointed prime minister in a unity government.

The soldiers, however, now say not all the promises made in that 2007 agreement were implemented.

In more recent unrest, some 3,000 people died in violence after longtime President Laurent Gbagbo lost the 2010 presidential election and then refused to cede power to victor Alassane Ouattara. After a military intervention, Ouattara became president and Gbagbo now faces charges at the International Criminal Court.

France has a military presence in Ivory Coast, with most of its 900 troops stationed in and near Abidjan. It was not announced whether the Ivory Coast government had asked for their help Friday in calming the situation, as it has in the past. </s> A two-day mutiny among soldiers in the Ivory Coast has come to an end, according to the country's president. Alassane Ouattara announced Saturday that the government has struck a deal with the mutineers.

The revolt, which began Friday in Boake, the country's second-largest city, soon spread to cities and towns nationwide. By Saturday, parts of the Ivory Coast's largest city, Abidjan, were on lockdown, as gunfire was reported at the military base on the edge of the city.

There have been no immediate reports of casualties.

As NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton notes, the soldiers' grievances center on bonus pay and living conditions. "One soldier says former fighters integrated into Ivory Coast's army were demanding bonuses of $8,000 apiece — plus a house," Ofeibea reported Friday for the Newscast unit.

Defense Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi flew up to Boake to negotiate a deal with the rebellious soldiers.

Ouattara announced it afterward to government ministers and reporters, Reuters reports. He said the government "had agreed to take into account the soldiers' demands," according to the news service, while also offering this rebuke:

"I would like to say that this manner of making demands is not appropriate. It tarnishes the image of our country after all our efforts to revive the economy."

Ofeibea reports the president has asked the soldiers to return to their barracks.

It is believed that many of the mutineers are former rebels, who joined the Ivorian army only after the country's 10-year civil war ended in 2011. The city of Bouake had played a central role as a rebel stronghold during that war. </s> Mutinous soldiers allow access to Ivory Coast city

 

 A partisan of the ruling party RDR (Rally of the republicans) holds a placard during a rally against the mutiny close to the military headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, May 13, 2017. The placard reads, ''Mutinies: it's enough''. REUTERS/Luc Gnago … </s> Demobilised soldiers launched mutinies in Ivory Coast’s second-largest city Bouaké on Friday, according to military sources and residents.

Heavy gunfire was heard from around 2am (0200 GMT) in Bouaké – a city of around a half million inhabitants in the centre of the country – and sporadic shooting continued into the late morning.

Military sources said demobilised soldiers – mainly former rebels from the decade-long conflict – broke into police stations across the city, looting weapons before taking up positions at entry points into the city.

“The situation currently is that there’s sort of a standstill reportedly in the city of Bouaké… between soldiers who have been demilitarised from the previous civil war that occurred in the country, which ended in 2011,” FRANCE 24’s Sean Lyngaas reported from the capital Abidjan. “It appears they are demanding pay that they say they are owed.”

Shooting also broke out mid-morning at a military base in Daloa, the main trading hub in Ivory Coast’s western cocoa belt. Residents said demobilised soldiers were behind the unrest, according to Reuters.

Bouaké was the seat of a rebellion that controlled the northern half of the world’s top cocoa grower from 2002 until Ivory Coast was reunited following a civil war in 2011.

“We’re hearing sporadic gunfire, but nothing alarming. With that said, businesses are closed and there are very few people in the streets,” a Bouaké resident told FRANCE 24’s The Observers. “I can see soldiers driving around on motorcycles and hanging off of the side of cars from my balcony. They’re in control of the entrance and exit to the city.”

An officer at Ivory Coast’s military headquarters in the commercial capital Abidjan said reinforcements had been sent to Bouaké.

“The situation remains unstable and serious in Bouaké... Some civilians and even active-duty soldiers have started to rally to them,” he told Reuters.

He added that, while the ex-soldiers had not yet stated their demands, it was believed that they were seeking payment of money they believed they were owed by the government.

A facility in Bouaké housing around 200 former soldiers, who were initially brought into the army before later being demobilised, was closed in November.

A similar uprising occurred in 2014 when hundreds of soldiers barricaded roads in several cities and towns across the country demanding payment of back wages. The government agreed a financial settlement with the soldiers, who returned to barracks. </s> Officials in the West African nation of Ivory Coast say soldiers have overrun police stations and seized the country's second-largest city, Bouake.

It has been six years since the West African nation emerged from a civil war, during which Bouake was the headquarters of the rebellion.

NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton said there were also reports of gunfire in two other cities, Daloa and Korhogo, and that it wasn't clear whether the attacks were a mutiny by current or former troops.

"Troops reportedly seized weapons from police stations and took up positions at the entrance to Bouake. One soldier says former fighters integrated into Ivory Coast's army were demanding bonuses of $8,000 apiece — plus a house. ... "A statement from Ivorian Defense Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi has called on soldiers to remain calm and return to their barracks, to allow, he says, for lasting solutions to the latest crisis in Ivory Coast, which has recently been burnishing its democratic credentials."



A member of the national assembly representing Bouake, Bema Fofana, told the BBC that "the soldiers did not appear to have a leader or spokesman, making it difficult to negotiate with them," the broadcaster reported, and that "most of the soldiers were former rebels who were integrated into the army after the civil war."

The BBC also reported that a resident who asked not to be identified said soldiers armed with automatic rifles "fired at the offices of the state broadcaster in the city."



"They are heavily armed and parading through the city of Daloa," a student named Karim Sanogo told The Associated Press. "Security forces have abandoned their posts. Everyone has returned home to seek shelter."

Earlier this year, a terrorist attack in a tourist city on the country's coast threatened the fragile peace sought after the civil war. In March, militants from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb killed more than a dozen people at beach hotels, as we reported.

"This country, once an oasis of peace, security, stability and prosperity, is emerging from a devastating decade of political violence and a civil war," Ofeibea reported at the time. "The economy was on the rebound."
Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire soldiers launch mutinies in three cities across Ivory Coast. The Defense Minister Alain Donwahi says talks are ongoing with the soldiers, calling for all troops to return to their barracks.