Disgruntled Soldiers Seal Off Access to Ivory Coast’s Second Largest City, Bouake

Disgruntled soldiers sealed off access to Ivory Coast’s second largest city, Bouake, Saturday, soldiers and residents said, as protests over a pay dispute stretched into a second day despite government warnings of harsh punishments. ABIDJAN, May 12 (Reuters) - Gunfire erupted on Friday in several locations in Ivory Coast, including the military headquarters in the commercial capital Abidjan, as anger spread following a decision by some leaders of a group of mutineers to drop demands for bonuses. "We do not want to negotiate with anyone," Sergeant Seydou Kone, one of the leaders of the uprising, said..

"We're also ready to fight if we are attacked. We have nothing to lose.”

In a statement on state television late on Friday, Military Chief of Staff General Sekou Toure threatened the soldiers with severe disciplinary sanctions if they did not end the revolt. Sgt Seydou Kone, a spokesman for the mutineers, said the ex-fighters, who went through a disarmament programme following the country’s 2011 civil war, were planning their own protest, as they did early this week, and his men had opened fire to stop them. READ MORE: Ivory Coast's former first lady cleared of war crimes

Bouake residents said shops remained closed on Saturday as soldiers, many of them wearing balaclavas, fired their weapons in the air and patrolled the streets in stolen cars.
Ivorian soldiers block access to Bouaké, the second-largest city in Ivory Coast amid a dispute over pay. The town of Odienné is also reported to be under mutineer control.