The new year may be just a few days old, but it has already presented Côte d’Ivoire’s new Prime Minister, Charles Konan Banny, with a substantial challenge: how best to deal with the attack staged on Monday on Akouedo military base in the east of the financial capital, Abidjan.

Talks to end years of rebellion in the Côte d’Ivoire resumed this week at the South African capital. But although government and rebel representatives in Pretoria may be speaking of peace, the areas they control are marked by persistent human rights abuses.