Defiant soldiers blocked access to Ivory Coast’s second-largest city on Saturday after firing guns into the air throughout the night, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

Rebellious soldiers had already taken to the streets Friday in Bouake, the economic capital of Abidjan and another city demanding pay increases.

The city of Bouake was the epicentre of a mutiny in January by former rebel soldiers who had been integrated into the army, which triggered months of unrest.

“We want our money,” a soldier wearing a facemask said Saturday, refusing to give his name.

The soldiers forced the police who normally control the four main access points to Bouake to flee, before taking up positions and blocking all traffic into the city.

They were also taking up positions elsewhere in the city, and banks and stores remained closed Saturday morning.

The situation remained calm however in Abidjan on Saturday, a day after the rebelling soldiers had surrounded the military’s headquarters in the city.

Late Friday, General Sekou Toure, chief of staff of Ivory Coast’s armed forces, warned of “severe disciplinary sanctions” for the soldiers.

The January mutiny saw the government promise to pay the soldiers 12 million CFA francs (18,000 euros) each, with an initial payment of five million francs that month.

The remainder was to be paid this month, according to rebel sources.

The world’s top cocoa provider, Ivory Coast has an army numbering around 22,000 soldiers, among them many former rebels who were integrated into the armed forces after years of conflict.

Last year, the government unveiled an ambitious plan to modernise the military, part of which would involve the departure of several thousand men, particularly ex-rebels, who will not be replaced.

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Also, Like us on facebook </s> Demobilised soldiers launched mutinies in Ivory Coast’s second-largest city Bouaké on Friday, according to military sources and residents.

Heavy gunfire was heard from around 2am (0200 GMT) in Bouaké – a city of around a half million inhabitants in the centre of the country – and sporadic shooting continued into the late morning.

Military sources said demobilised soldiers – mainly former rebels from the decade-long conflict – broke into police stations across the city, looting weapons before taking up positions at entry points into the city.

“The situation currently is that there’s sort of a standstill reportedly in the city of Bouaké… between soldiers who have been demilitarised from the previous civil war that occurred in the country, which ended in 2011,” FRANCE 24’s Sean Lyngaas reported from the capital Abidjan. “It appears they are demanding pay that they say they are owed.”

Shooting also broke out mid-morning at a military base in Daloa, the main trading hub in Ivory Coast’s western cocoa belt. Residents said demobilised soldiers were behind the unrest, according to Reuters.

Bouaké was the seat of a rebellion that controlled the northern half of the world’s top cocoa grower from 2002 until Ivory Coast was reunited following a civil war in 2011.

“We’re hearing sporadic gunfire, but nothing alarming. With that said, businesses are closed and there are very few people in the streets,” a Bouaké resident told FRANCE 24’s The Observers. “I can see soldiers driving around on motorcycles and hanging off of the side of cars from my balcony. They’re in control of the entrance and exit to the city.”

An officer at Ivory Coast’s military headquarters in the commercial capital Abidjan said reinforcements had been sent to Bouaké.

“The situation remains unstable and serious in Bouaké... Some civilians and even active-duty soldiers have started to rally to them,” he told Reuters.

He added that, while the ex-soldiers had not yet stated their demands, it was believed that they were seeking payment of money they believed they were owed by the government.

A facility in Bouaké housing around 200 former soldiers, who were initially brought into the army before later being demobilised, was closed in November.

A similar uprising occurred in 2014 when hundreds of soldiers barricaded roads in several cities and towns across the country demanding payment of back wages. The government agreed a financial settlement with the soldiers, who returned to barracks. </s> ABIDJAN, May 14 (Reuters) - Mutinous soldiers in Ivory Coast opened up access to the West African nation's second-biggest city, Bouake, a leader of the uprising said on Sunday, as public opposition to the three-day nationwide revolt over bonus payments gained momentum.

"We have decided to open the corridors to allow the population to do their work. We have nothing against the population," Sergeant Seydou Kone told Reuters.

Witnesses and a local lawmaker confirmed that traffic was circulating in an out of the city, which sits on the main road axis between Abidjan, the commercial capital - one of the region's largest ports - and landlocked neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso.

Soldiers searched vehicles and checked the identity documents of bus passengers.

However, in the city centre, they fired shots in the air to disperse residents who were attempting to organise a march against the mutiny, which began on Friday and spread rapidly to cities and towns across Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower.

"The population rose up, but the mutineers quickly dispersed the march with shots," said Bouake resident Simon Guede. "Everything is closed. No one is in the streets except the soldiers and a few protesters." (Reporting by Joe Bavier and Ange Aboa; Editing by Andrew Bolton) </s> ABIDJAN, May 12 (Reuters) - Gunfire erupted on Friday in several locations in Ivory Coast, including the military headquarters in the commercial capital Abidjan, as anger spread following a decision by some leaders of a group of mutineers to drop demands for bonuses.

The protests by soldiers, most of them ex-rebel fighters who helped bring President Alassane Ouattara to power, began in the second largest city, Bouake, overnight before spreading to Abidjan and the northern town of Odienne.

The unrest came a day after a spokesman for thousands of soldiers who participated in a January mutiny, which paralysed parts of the world's top cocoa grower, said the group would forego demands for more money.

"That's not what they were meant to say," said one of the mutiny leaders in Bouake, who asked not to be named, explaining the reaction of the soldiers to the announcement.

"Soldiers are at the entrances to the city. We won't close it off for the moment ... Other soldiers are also deployed inside the city."

He said if they received no response from the authorities, they would seal off access to Bouake in the evening.

"We're still hearing gunfire. They are firing in the air. To be safe we are starting to send the children home from school," said Sarah Toure, a teacher in Bouake.

Mirroring the rapid spread of the January mutinies, gunfire also was heard at Ivory Coast's military headquarters as well its largest military base in Abidjan, military and diplomatic sources said. Soldiers also blocked access to the northern city of Odienne, a resident said.

Ivory Coast has emerged from a 2002-2011 conflict as one of the world's fastest-growing economies. But deep divisions persist, particularly in a military assembled from ex-rebel and loyalist fighters, raising the spectre of lingering instability.

That pledge to drop further demands for bonus payments would ease pressure on government finances, which have been squeezed by a sharp decline in world cocoa prices and earlier payments to the mutinous soldiers. (Writing by Joe Bavier Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Larry King and Richard Lough) </s> ABIDJAN, May 13 (Reuters) - Disgruntled soldiers sealed off access to Ivory Coast's second largest city, Bouake, on Saturday as protests over a pay dispute stretched into a second day despite the government's warnings of harsh punishments, soldiers and residents said.

"We do not want to negotiate with anyone," said Sergeant Seydou Kone, one of the leaders of the uprising. "We're also ready to fight if we are attacked. We have nothing to lose." </s> ABIDJAN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Soldiers demanding salary increases and the payment of bonuses were behind the seizure of Ivory Coast's second-largest city of Bouake on Friday, the West African nation's defence minister said.

"It is asked that all soldiers remain calm and return to barracks so that lasting solutions can be found," a statement from Alain-Richard Donwahi read on state-owned television said. </s> ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Gunfire erupted at a military camp in the western Ivory Coast town of Daloa on Friday, a resident and a military source said, hours after demobilised soldiers seized control of Bouake, the West African nation’s second largest city.

“There is gunfire at the Second Battalion in Daloa. It’s young demobilised soldiers,” said the resident, speaking by telephone from a cocoa processing factory near the army camp. </s> Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Rebellious soldiers took up positions near the military's headquarters in Abidjan on Friday

Angry soldiers have blocked off access to Bouaké, the second largest city in the Ivory Coast, as a revolt over a pay dispute continues.

One of the uprising's leaders said the soldiers were "ready to fight" if attacked.

Sergeant Seydou Koné said they did not want to negotiate with anyone, according to Reuters news agency.

The unrest began after a spokesman for the soldiers announced on Thursday that they had dropped their pay demands.

In January, they forced the government into paying them about $8,000 (£6,200) each in bonuses to end a rebellion. They were due to receive a further payment this month and about 8,000 mutineers are unhappy that they were not consulted ahead of Thursday's televised announcement.

Three former rebels from the country's civil war era were wounded on Saturday after the mutinous soldiers opened fire in Bouaké to stop them staging their own protest, Sergeant Koné said.

There have also been reports of injuries after shooting in the northern city of Korhogo.

The military chief of staff, General Sékou Touré, had threatened "severe disciplinary sanctions" on Friday if the uprising did not end. Shops are closed and soldiers are patrolling and firing in the air in Bouaké, residents said.

The mutineers have also taken control of the city of Odienne, in the north, reports say.

On Friday, shots were fired in the air at military bases in Abidjan, Bondoukou in the east, Bouaké in the centre, and Korhogo. It is believed the mutineers were firing blanks.

In response, elite Republican Guard troops in Abidjan fired warning shots that pushed the mutineers back inside the military headquarters compound in Abidjan, Reuters reported. The situation in the city on Saturday was said to be calm.

Reacting to the spreading unrest, President Alassane Ouattara held an emergency meeting of the country's security council.

The mutiny has raised fears of a resurgence of the violence seen during Ivory Coast's 10-year civil war, which ended in 2011.

Many of the mutineers in January were thought to be former rebels who joined the army after the conflict. </s> Mutinous soldiers in Ivory Coast shot two people and cut off access to the second largest city, Bouake, on Saturday, as a nationwide revolt over demands for bonus payments extended into a second day despite government warnings of harsh punishment. The revolt began in Bouake early on Friday before spreading quickly, following a similar pattern to a mutiny by the same group in January that paralysed parts of Ivory Coast and marred its image as a post-war success story. Mutineers seized control of the national military headquarters and defence ministry in the centre of the commercial capital Abidjan on Friday.

They stepped up the pressure on Saturday, blocking roads out of Bouake, the epicentre of January’s uprising, and protesting in several other locations, including the northern city of Korhogo, where two men on a motorcycle were shot as they tried to force their way through a roadblock manned by the mutineers.

“They shot at them. They were wounded and transported to the hospital,” said witness Amadou Yeo, adding that the two men had been shot in the legs.

Also in Korhogo, soldiers fired into air to disperse a group of residents that had gathered to protest against the uprising, sending people fleeing home. Shops were shuttered and the streets were largely empty.

“We do not want to negotiate with anyone,” said Sergeant Seydou Kone, one of the leaders of the uprising, speaking by phone from Bouake. “We’re also ready to fight if we are attacked. We have nothing to lose.”

In a statement on state television late on Friday, Military Chief of Staff General Sekou Toure threatened the soldiers with severe disciplinary sanctions if they did not end the revolt.

Ivory Coast’s defence minister and government spokesman were not reachable for comment on Saturday.

The soldiers were promised bonus payments by the government after the January mutiny but it has struggled to disburse the money following a budget crunch caused by the collapse in the price of cocoa, Ivory Coast’s main export.

Ivory Coast has emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing economies following a decade-long political crisis ended by a 2011 civil war. But deep divisions persist, particularly in a military assembled from former rebel and loyalist combatants.

The government has already paid 8,400 soldiers – most of them former rebels who helped bring President Alassane Ouattara to power – bonuses of 5 million CFA francs ($8,371) each as part of a deal to end the January mutiny.

On Thursday, following a meeting with authorities in Abidjan, a spokesman for the group said they would forego demands for remaining bonuses of 7 million francs.

But that decision was rejected by some of the soldiers.

“We want our 7 million and that’s it,” said Kone.

Bouake residents said shops remained closed as soldiers fired weapons in the air and patrolled the streets in cars.

Mutineers also took control of the northern city of Odienne and there was sporadic gunfire in Daloa, the main cocoa growing hub in southwestern Ivory Coast, which is the world’s top producer of the chocolate ingredient.

Kone said the mutineers were also active in Man near the western border with Liberia, and Bondoukou in the east.

“Perhaps the government is tired of this, but they must sit down and talk,” said retired gendarme Valentin Sokoure, speaking near the military headquarters in Abidjan where the barricades had been removed Saturday morning. “I just want the government to negotiate with the mutineers.”

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Ivorian soldiers block access to Bouaké, the second-largest city in Ivory Coast amid a dispute over pay. The town of Odienné is also reported to be under mutineer control.