Cote d'Ivoire: 3 Dead After An Angry Movement Of The Demobilized In Bouake

Checkpoint held by mutineers in Bouake, 15 May 2017

In Côte d'Ivoire, it was believed the last crisis of mutineers refused, but it was not counting the demobilized, these ex-rebels, who were not integrated into the army and who also claim bonuses. In Bouake, it turned out bad Tuesday morning. At least three demobilized soldiers died and about 20 were wounded when security forces tried to dislodge them from the southern entrance to the city.


The security forces opened fire on the southern corridor, a spokesman for the demobilized said his men had no weapons. The tension escalated on Monday at the funeral of a former demobilized ex-combatant Youssouf Diawara, killed last Saturday, on Saturday, May 13, by mutinous soldiers.
The Minister of Solidarity, Mariatou Koné, had made the trip. She met with the demobilized soldiers at the morgue where she explained that the government was thinking about them and had plans to offer them for their reintegration into society. "  We do not want a project, we want money,  " the ex-combatants have been saying for days. The minister has been a little heckling. Then some of the demobilized presents went to block the southern corridor.




As a reminder, these demobilized soldiers are ex-combatants who were not incorporated into the army at the end of Disarmament-Demobilization-Reintegration (DDR). At the time, they had received for some 800,000 CFA francs [1,219 euros] and training. But today, in view of the failure to reintegrate most of them, they are demanding the same bonuses as those paid to the military since 2015, ie CFAF 17 million; As well as the incorporation of the youngest in the allied corps.

The authorities in any case clearly expected such an outbreak of fever of these ex-combatants who say they are a little over 4,000 in Bouaké, since elements of the riot police had arrived in Bouaké as of Sunday.