adminABIDJAN — Protests by disgruntled soldiers in Cote d’Ivoire have exposed the government’s failure to reform its mutiny-plagued armed forces and its rapid capitulation sets a dangerous precedent in a country with bright economic prospects.
Cote d’Ivoire — French-speaking West Africa’s largest economy — is emerging from a decade of crisis that ended in a brief civil war in 2011. Its rapid revival and vast potential have made it the new darling of frontier investors in Africa.
When thousands of soldiers poured out of barracks and erected barricades in towns across the country this month, it was a stark reminder of the coups, mutinies and rebellions that have crippled the world’s top cocoa grower.
President Alassane Ouattara has received credit for overseeing Cote d’Ivoire’s economic renaissance, but has struggled to reform an army thrown together from former government loyalists and ex-rebels.
“The army has always been the weak point and it really surprises me they didn’t learn the lessons of the past,” said Rinaldo Depagne, West Africa project director for International Crisis Group.
The protesters were former members of the New Forces rebels, who three years ago fought alongside UN and French troops to install Ouattara in power after incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept his victory in 2010 elections.
Thousands were to receive army salaries from 2009 under a peace deal that eventually collapsed, but Gbagbo never paid them. And after Ouattara took over in 2011, authorities brushed off their repeated demands for back pay and benefits until November 18, when the soldiers hit the street.
“Their message was heard. The president of the Republic has understood it,” Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said on the evening news broadcast just hours later, promising talks and pledging that the protesters would not be punished. — Reuters.
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