Ivory Coast's government said today it had put down an attempted coup by dissident soldiers who tried to seize state television and radio facilities and the president's residence overnight.
Rebel elements tried to take the radio, television and the residence of the president. These rebel forces have been routed, Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou said on state radio.
The attempted coup d'etat can be considered to have been aborted, Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouassi said in the same broadcast, made after the radio station, which had been captured by rebels during the night, was retaken by loyalist forces.
The government did not say who might be behind the coup attempt in the former French colony, the latest episode of violent revolt in a country that used to be considered a rare haven of stability on a volatile African continent.
Heavy gunfire erupted at the radio station in the central Plateau district of the West African country's commercial capital, Abidjan, just before midnight last night. State television headquarters in the district of Cocody was attacked at the same time and both were captured by the rebels, whose motives remain unknown. -Reuters