Ivory Coast announces deal to end standoff
Ivory Coast has announced a deal to end a standoff with soldiers who staged a mutiny last week, though it's unclear whether security will be fully restored in Africa's fastest-growing economy.
The deal was reached after tense negotiations in Bouake, the country's second-largest city, between soldiers and a delegation led by the defence minister, said government spokesman Bruno Kone.
In the hours before the deal was announced, hundreds of soldiers converged on the house where the negotiations were taking place, and gunfire erupted at multiple military bases in Abidjan, the commercial capital.
The mutineers' demands included unpaid bonuses, higher salaries, faster promotions and improved living conditions.
The bonuses amounted to nearly $US20,000 ($A26,634) each for more than 8,000 soldiers, according to several people who participated in the negotiations.
Officials would not confirm the terms of the deal, but one soldier, who insisted on anonymity, said the government had agreed to pay the bonuses in installments beginning with payments of over $US8,000 ($A10,654) to each soldier on Monday.
If accurate, the resolution could end up costing the government over $US150 million ($A200 million) for the bonuses alone.
It is the second time the government has announced a deal to end the standoff.
President Alassane Ouattara said a deal was reached January 7, one day after the mutiny began.
But almost as soon as that first deal was announced, some soldiers in Bouake made clear they were dissatisfied with it, firing their weapons and temporarily holding the defense minister hostage.
Ouattara came to power in 2011 after a postelection crisis that claimed more than 3,000 lives.
The crisis was triggered by former President Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to accept defeat and step down. It capped more than a decade of turmoil that began with the country's first coup in 1999.
Ivory Coast has seen about 10 mutinies since 1990, with the most recent taking place in 2014.
