Cote d’Ivoire’s mutineering soldiers accepted a government proposal on bonuses and returned to barracks on Tuesday, ending the mutiny that had forced major shutdowns of businesses and roads across the country’s biggest towns.
Reuters news agency reports that the dissident soldiers,mostly former rebels who helped bring President Alassane Ouattara to power, had initially rejected an offer late on Monday, but accepted a new deal after amendments overnight.
“We accept the government’s proposal … We are returning to barracks now,” said Sergeant Seydou Kone, speaking in the city of Bouake where the revolt began last Friday before quickly spreading.Some of the 8,400 mutineers had already received the bonuses agreed under the new deal by midday, he said.
The short-lived uprising exposed Ouattara’s tenuous grip on an army patched together from former rebel and loyalist fighters in the wake of a 2011 civil war, since when Ivory Coast has transformed itself into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
At least two people were killed in the unrest, with another nine wounded.
Defence Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi told reporters that soldiers who will be found guilty will face disciplinary action.
“There are certainly people who are guilty. Investigations have been requested so that disciplinary measures can be taken against anyone guilty of a criminal act,” Donwahi told reporters.
Donwahi said an investigation was also being launched into a secret weapons cache discovered at a private residence in Bouake. “Most of the weapons were carried away by the soldiers. Not by the civilian population,” he said.
