Ivory Coast soldiers invade TV station to demand unpaid salaries
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 19 November, 2014, 10:52pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 19 November, 2014, 10:52pm
Agence France-Presse in Bouake
Ivorian soldiers block one of the main streets leading to the "Le plateau" business district in Abidjan, to ask for better careers and better wages. Photo: AFP
Hundreds of Ivory Coast soldiers protested over a pay dispute, storming a television station in the West African nation's second-largest city and blocking traffic in Abidjan.
The protests on Tuesday underlined the fragile state of the military three years after the end of a long crisis that had split the country in two.
The demonstrations also occurred with less than a year to go before presidential elections next October.
Waves of protests began in Bouake before extending to the economic capital, Abidjan; Ferkessedougou and Khorogo in the north; and Bondoukou and Abengourou in the east.
Soldiers are demanding bonuses owed under a 2007 deal.
The soldiers who took over the state TV and radio station in Bouake were unarmed and said they wanted to broadcast a message related to their demands.
The station does not have the capacity to broadcast live, so the soldiers recorded a message that they wanted to have aired.
About 50 of them, wearing uniforms, later remained outside the building before leaving. The station was not ransacked.
The defence minister, Paul Koffi Koffi, went on state television to tell the soldiers to call off the protest and promised payment of arrears.
