| A still image from video of soldiers who have taken control of Bouake standing at a checkpoint in Bouake, Ivory Coast January 6, 2017. /REUTERS |
Residents stayed home and businesses remained closed on Friday morning. A helicopter from Ivory Coast’s U.N. peacekeeping mission patrolled above the city, they said.
“The city is deserted. Men in balaklavas are patrolling the city on motorcycles or in cars. They aren’t attacking residents … They told us to stay at home,” said Ami Soro, a teacher living in Bouake.
An officer at Ivory Coast’s military headquarters in the commercial capital Abidjan said reinforcements had been sent to Bouake.
“The situation remains unstable and serious in Bouake … Some civilians and even active-duty soldiers have started to rally to them,” he said.
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 Bouake housing around 200 former soldiers, who were initially brought into the army before later being demobilised, was closed in November.
There was no clear sign of a link between the Bouake events and outbreak of shooting at a military base in Daloa, but the fact the rebels were also demobilised soldiers could indicate the uprising was spreading.
“There is gunfire at the Second Battalion in Daloa. It’s young demobilised soldiers,” said a Daloa resident, speaking by telephone from a cocoa processing factory near the army camp.
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.