Ivory Coast: after the attack on an Abobo barracks, many questions remain

View of the town of Abobo, Ivory Coast (illustrative image).

RFI / Charlie Dupiot

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In Côte d'Ivoire, the day after the attack on a military camp in Abobo, in northern Abidjan, which left four people dead, the investigation is continuing.

If the jihadist track seems ruled out, many questions remain, in particular as to the objective of the attackers and the identity of the alleged sponsors.

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With our correspondent in Abidjan, 

Pierre Pinto

If the camp of Anonkoua-Kouté shelters the 2nd Ivorian projectable battalion which must take up in September that deployed in Mali within the framework of the Minusma, the jihadist track is discarded.

Mainly because of the identity of the attackers.

Some indeed carried Liberian papers. One of them even had on him a sheet entitled "contract", supposed to hire him to "fight in Ivory Coast" for 5,000 US dollars. Sheet neither signed nor dated. Why were they carrying identity documents and this pseudo “contract”?

Incongruities that add to many other questions in this case.

How many were the attackers?

Between a dozen and thirty depending on the sources.

What was their goal?

The camp is well equipped with weapons and vehicles since it is there that the Ivorian peacekeepers are preparing for Mali.

And for the staff, the attackers had " 

the definite intention of entering it

 ."

But the sentries of this barracks retaliated vigorously, instantly killing three assailants.

A fourth succumbed to his injuries several hours later.

See also: Ivory Coast: armed men attack a military base in northern Abidjan

Anyway, the day before, April 20, the defense and security forces had been put on alert by the general staff, evoking " 

recurring and persistent rumors

 " about " 

subversive actions on the 'the whole of the national territory and in particular in the localities of Abidjan, Dabou, San Pedro and Tabou 

”.

In short, along the axis that leads from Liberia to the economic capital.

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  • Ivory Coast