/ 5 July 2000

IVORY COAST CURFEW AFTER SOLDIERS RAMPAGE

A NEW night time curfew began on Tuesday night in Ivory Coast after soldiers took to the streets for the first time since the December coup. Military ruler General Robert Guei imposed the 7pm. to 6am curfew after soldiers took to the streets of Abidjan and other towns in the country. Firing into the air they were demanding to be paid for their role in the coup which brought Guei to power. Soldiers are said to have hijacked private vehicles and in some cities, robbed banks. A spokesman for the mutineers read a statement on national television requesting his colleagues return to barracks. Calm had returned to the city by the nightfall. Guei who became head of state after he and a group of young soldiers toppled President Henri Konan Bedie on Christmas Eve, urged the mutineers to join him in finding a negotiated solution to the crisis.