----- Original Message ----- From: Kenneth O'Neil BLACKMAN <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, December 24, 1999 9:08 AM Subject: COTE D'IVOIRE: Military coup announced [19991224] > COTE D'IVOIRE: Military coup announced > > ABIDJAN, 24 December 1999 (IRIN) - Soldiers in Cote d'Ivoire announced on > radio and TV on Friday that President Henri Konan Bedie had been deposed > and parliament dissolved, and that a curfew would be imposed from 21.00 to > 0500 Hrs starting on Friday night. > > According to radio reports, the soldiers, who had begun a mutiny on > Thursday, also went to the MACA, the main penitentiary in Abidjan, and freed > the leaders of one of Cote d'Ivoire's main opposition parties. > > The mutineers' spokesman, General Robert Guehi - described by another member > of the military as the "new president of the republic" - said on radio that > the soldiers had met Bedie to discuss their grievances, which were both > political and military, but the meeting ended abruptly after no common > ground could be reached. > > "They consider that from now on President Henri Konan Bedie is no longer > president of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire," he said. "A Comite de Salut de > la Republique (Committee for the Salvation of the Republic) will be set up > and its composition will be communicated to you in the coming hours or > days". > > Bedie became Cote d'Ivoire's second president in 1993, at the death of > Felix Houphouet Boigny. > > The other member of the military read out a number of instructions for the > public, including the imposition of the curfew "until further notice". "All > institutions of the republic are forthwith suspended," he said, adding: > "This takeover has been done on behalf of the Ivoirian people and to restore > the dignity of the soldiers, which has been scorned for a long tme." > > The first signs that someting was afoot came on Thursday morning when bands > of soldiers drove around Abidjan shooting in the air. They took over state > television and also the state-owned radio station, where equipment was > reportedly damaged and which has been off the air since early Thursday > afternoon. They then commandered private vehicles and, according to various > reports, pillaged at least one supermarket and seized food and gas from > restaurants and service stations respectively. > > On Friday, abandoned cars, some of them damaged, could be seen here and > there on the streets of Le Plateau, Abidjan's central business and > administrative district. There was virtually no vehicular traffic in the > normally bustling city centre except for cars driven by the military. > Businesses were closed and the handful of passers-by on the deserted > pavements were a far cry from the crowds of shoppers that usually grace Le > Plateau's streets on Xmas Eve. > > Some reports had it that the protest had been staged by former peacekeepers > angered that they had not been paid after serving in the Central African > Republic, although a usually reliable source told IRIN there had been a > failed coup attempt in the early hours of Thursday morning. > > In his announcement, Guehi said the mutineers had two main grouses. "There > are specifically military problems with regard to the restoration of their > dignity, i.e. improving their equipment, salary increases ... Other > problems are political since they asked for the liberation of the people who > are now detained at the MACA for reasons of a political nature." > > The secretary-general of the opposition Rassemblement des Republicains > (RDR), Henriette Diabate, and other senior members of the party were > sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to two years in November, less > than a year before presidential elections billed for October next year . > > They were convicted, by virtue of a law that renders organisers of > demonstrations responsible for damage caused during such protests, following > a sit-in held in late October to protest against anti-opposition bias on the > state media. > > The sit-in was one of a series of protests organised by the RDR, whose > leader - former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara - has been barred from > contesting next year's election by the state, which maintains that he is not > of Ivoirian origin, a claim he has denied. > > The news of the overthrow was greeted with loud cheering on Abidjan's > streets. In Le Plateau, a convoy of soldiers in about 15 to 20 vehicles > could be seen driving through the streets firing into the air. In another > neighbourhood, II Plateaux, young men jumped onto the bonnets and tops of > the few 'woro woro' (collective taxis) on the streets, cheering and waving > their arms. > > Guehi said Bedie was at his residence which had been surrounded by the > mutineers so as to "protect" the head of state, but a report on CNN had it > that he had sought refuge in the residence of the French ambassador and had > ordered his loyalists to crush the rebels. > > [END] > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------