Military unrest in Ivory Coast revives coup fears

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - High-rise offices were empty and streets abandoned in Ivory Coast's commercial capital Tuesday as soldiers erected makeshift barricades and raced around in stolen vehicles with rifles bristling.

The protest by disgruntled army officers demanding perks closely resembled a brief army mutiny that led to the nation's first coup d'etat last December. And while officials and soldiers were negotiating an end to the latest impasse, many civilians feared another takeover in what had been one of Africa's most stable and prosperous nations.

''We are tired of these soldiers using guns to disrupt our lives. We want democracy,'' said Nogbou Mensah, a taxi driver in the Cocody suburb.

The unrest began with a burst of gunfire at 4 a.m. that lasted for 30 minutes in several parts of Abidjan. Another round of shooting occurred in the posh residential and commercial district of Deux Plateau, around 9:30 a.m., and a smattering gunfire was heard later.

A heavy buildup of soldiers on foot and in armored personnel carriers was visible around the airport, state broadcasters and the presidential mansion.

Officials at the U.S. and Canadian embassies both said the security situation was unclear and advised their citizens not to venture into the streets. Some border posts were reportedly closed and at least two airlines, Air France and British Airways, on Tuesday suspended international flights from Abidjan.

State radio announced a general curfew between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Soldiers also blocked roads in several other Ivory Coast cities and sporadic shooting was reported near a military base in the northern town of Korhogo.

The protesters, mostly young army officers, have demanded lump sums of $9,000 each to buy houses. Ivory Coast's cash-strapped government cannot afford to meet the soldiers' demands, Information Minister Henri Cesar Sama said.

After lengthy talks with military leader Gen. Robert Guei, a spokesman for the rebels, Corp. Aboukary Kone, called on his comrades to return to their barracks, saying the government had agreed to form a committee to assure the soldiers' demands were met.

But Kone, who appeared in a television broadcast wearing camouflage fatigues and surrounded by five churlish colleagues, was unrepentant for the unrest.

''Every time a soldier takes up his arms, it is not against the people. It is about fighting injustice,'' Kone said.

In another state television address, Guei accused soldiers whom he called ''sick in the head'' of robbing banks in Korhogo and the central city of Bouake. He said the military regime was doing its best to meet the soldiers' demands for 2,500 houses. Yet he stopped short of making promises to the rest of the estimated 10,000-strong military.

Throughout the day, protesting soldiers - some drinking beer and threatening civilians who ventured into the streets - continued to cruise the streets in taxi, jeeps and other seized vehicles.

At a military checkpoint outside the state television station, a surly soldier driving a luxury car said: ''Tell the world this: The government is stealing from the treasury and we have had enough. We want our money.''

Earlier in the day Sama, the Information Minister, accused unnamed politicians of fomenting the unrest ''in order to gain power by any means.'' Authorities were searching for the instigators, he said. No arrests had been made.

''We are trying to avoid bloodshed. It is still not over,'' Sama said.

The military protest came amid mounting political and ethnic tensions in this West African country, which until the December coup had long been one of the continent's most prosperous and stable nations.

The Ivory Coast is the world's largest cocoa producer and the scare prompted cocoa prices on the London futures exchange to jump.

Although the December coup was initially popular with Ivorians who had grown tired of corruption and ethnic favoritism under ousted President Henri Konan Bedie, many have since become disillusioned with the new regime.

Guei has promised elections for Sept. 17, but has not said whether he will run.