At least two people were killed in ethnic clashes in Cote d’Ivoire following President Alassane Ouattara’s announcement to run for a third term, a hospital source and local residents said on Sunday.
Opposition supporters took to the streets on Saturday to voice loud and violent protests in several major cities especially in the southern cocoa-growing hub of Divo after Ouattara accepted his party’s nomination for the October poll.
“One person evacuated to the regional hospital succumbed to their injuries and died this morning,” said a hospital source in Divo, adding that “several were badly wounded with machetes”.
Several local people also said they had seen the body of a teenager killed in a fire in a local bar.
Ouattara was officially nominated as a candidate by his ruling party RHDP despite having already served two terms – the maximum permitted under the constitution- since 2010.
He had initially planned to hand over to prime minister Amadou Gon Coulbaly but his presumed successor died of a heart attack in July.
