Wednesday July 5, 1:39 AM



ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast spent its first night under curfew since
soldiers shattered its reputation as one of Africa's most stable countries
by seizing power in December.

Military ruler General Robert Guei imposed the 7 p.m. (1900 GMT) to 6 a.m.
(0600 GMT) curfew after soldiers took to the streets of the main city
Abidjan and other centres on Tuesday, firing in the air and demanding money
from the ruling junta for their role in the December coup.

But calm had returned to Abidjan by nightfall, apart from the occasional
gunshot, and a spokesman for the mutineers read a statement on national
television asking his comrades to return to barracks.

Guei, installed as head of state by young soldiers who toppled President
Henri Konan Bedie on Christmas Eve, urged the mutineers in an address to the
nation to join him in finding a negotiated solution to the crisis.

"I remain open to dialogue. You can send your delegations to me," he said,
assuring the mutineers they could trust the junta and adding that acts such
as Tuesday's threatened to tarnish the army's image and would lead to
soldiers being blacklisted.

"That is not what we want," he said. "It is necessary to think of the
general interest and, at all costs, not think of oneself to the detriment of
the people."

The mutineers' spokesman, Corporal Aboubakari Kone, said that a commission
composed of representatives from all branches of the armed forces in the
world's top cocoa producer would be set up to study the soldiers'
grievances.

"We ask all our comrades to lay down their arms and return to barracks,"
Kone said. "The President of the Republic has assured us that all our
demands will be satisfied."

Guei, looking relaxed and wearing military fatigues during his address to
the nation, made no mention of the commission and gave no public undertaking
to address the dissidents' grievances.

He said that his administration had already fulfilled promises on pay and
was in the process of delivering on promises of help for soldiers to own
their own homes.

SOLDIERS HIJACK PRIVATE CARS

Soldiers moved onto the streets of Abidjan before dawn on Tuesday. Witnesses
said that later they commandeered hundreds of private cars. Mutineers went
on rampages in the second city Bouake and the town of Korhogo in the north.
Guei said that they looted banks in both places.

World cocoa prices rose on the news of the mutiny.

As in December, when junior soldiers staged Ivory Coast's first coup since
independence from France in 1960, Tuesday's unrest began at Akouedo barracks
on the eastern edge of the city.

A sergeant launched the December coup from Akouedo after seizing the armoury
following a dispute over allowances for soldiers returning from a U.N.
peacekeeping mission to the Central African Republic.

On June 22, rumours of a fresh coup attempt sparked panic in Abidjan and
elsewhere in the country. There was no shooting and the junta blamed
unfounded rumours.

Military officials said that Guei returned to Abidjan late on Monday from a
nationwide tour ahead of a July 23 referendum on a new constitution, the
first vote of the transition back to civilian rule.

Guei and his communication minister, Navy Lieutenant Henri Cesar Sama
Damalan, said that soldiers demanding a bonus for their role in the coup
were behind Tuesday's events.

"Today...around 3 a.m. some soldiers of the Ivorian army, who for weeks have
been asking the head of state for six million CFA ($8,700) each as war
booty, came out," Sama said.

Guei said that the junta and government, who are strapped for cash, could
not meet such demands from one group of soldiers at a time when his
administration was criticising the management of state funds by Bedie, who
is in exile in France.

Sources at the city's airport said it stayed open for flights on Tuesday.
Business sources said that work at the country's main port Abidjan had
ground to a halt. Shops, banks and offices in the city remained closed.

Guei, who has been gradually asserting his authority, has promised to
restore civilian rule, with presidential and legislative elections in
September and October. He is widely believed to be planning to run for
president himself.


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