Coup fears as battles hit Ivory Coast
Hours of sustained heavy gunfire and explosions boomed across Abidjan, commercial capital of the unrest-ridden West African nation of Ivory Coast today.
Automatic-weapon fire broke out in an area of the city where there is a major military police base.
The gunfire and repeated heavy explosions spread across Abidjan.
Frightened residents stayed off the streets, and there was little word on cause of the firing. One journalist who ventured out in a residential neighbourhood was shot at by security forces.
State-radio, whose facilities have been heavily guarded since the country’s first-ever coup in 1999, stayed on the air playing its normal overnight fare of music.
The unrest came with President Laurent Gbagbo believed to be still out of the former French colony on a visit to Italy.
Once one of West Africa’s most stable and prosperous nations, Ivory Coast has seen repeated outbreaks of ethnic and political violence, killing hundreds, since the 2000 military takeover.
Gbagbo won the 2000 elections that were meant to start restoring the country to civilian rule and peace.
Leaders have heavily built up the weaponry of police and soldiers since the coup in a bid to enforce security and keep control.
