Calm returned to the streets of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on Wednesday as the presidential palace prepared for a crisis meeting after two days of protests over rising prices in which one man died.
Markets and shops re-opened in Yopougon, eastern Abidjan, where protesters clashed with police on Monday, and in the economic capital’s Port-Bouet area, where a man was reportedly shot in the head on Tuesday.
Public transport was also running again, after President Laurent Gbagbo was forced to make a televised address on Tuesday night and enact emergency price freezes.
Police had fired live bullets and used tear gas to disperse crowds angry at prices having more than doubled in the past year.
“I am asking you to stay calm,” the president said in his nationwide broadcast.
The government also offered emergency talks with consumer representatives and a temporary suspension of import duties on essential foodstuffs and cement.
Having blamed the rising cost of living on the global surge in oil prices, the crisis group has promised to examine “all aspects” of the protest movement when it convenes on Wednesday afternoon.
Similar movements have rocked other West African nations such as Burkina Faso and Senegal. — AFP