Côte d’Ivoire army mutiny

Soldiers in the Côte d’Ivoire army took to the streets of the city of Bouake to demand a raise in their salaries on Jan. 6, disarming local police and firing guns and missiles into the air. That protest spread to the cities of Daloa, Daoukro and Korhogo despite calls from the government for soldiers to return to their barracks. 

The government agreed to pay each of the protesting soldiers a bonus worth about $20,000. No casualties were reported during the protests.

The protesting soldiers had been members of the rebel forces during Côte d’Ivoire’s civil war of 2002-2011 and had joined the government’s army as part of the peace deal.

On Jan. 17, some members of the army who had not been eligible for the bonus began protesting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s largest city, and in the capital, Yamoussoukro, firing guns into the air. One soldier was reported to have been killed in Yamoussoukro.