Ivorian Soldiers’ Mutiny Ends

Some 8,400 Ivory Coast soldiers who mutinied in January apologized to President Alassane Ouattara in an orchestrated ceremony that was aired on national television late on Thursday.

Organized without the knowledge of the press, the event—broadcast after it took place at the presidential palace—signaled a dramatic end to the protest movement, AFP reported.

Apart from apologizing, the rebels said they were giving up all their financial demands.

Ouattara said of the rebels that he “believed their words were sincere” and they would now be “exemplary soldiers”.

At the start of January, former rebels integrated into army ranks staged a mutiny that paralyzed activity in several towns of the West African country while they pressed for bonuses.

In meeting the demands of the ex-rebels, who controlled the northern half of Africa’s biggest cocoa producer between 2002 and 2011, the authorities provoked a fresh mutiny by other troops and paramilitary gendarmes.

Clashes claimed four lives in the political capital Yamoussoukro. The mutineers, who demanded 12 million CFA francs (€18,000) in payments for each soldier, obtained 5 million francs ((€7,500) in January and had been due to receive the rest of the sum this month, the rebels had told AFP.