It is reported that the Ivory Coast's President Henri Konan Bedie has been overthrown after mutinous soldiers took over strategic areas of the country's main city Abidjan. However, loyalist forces deny that the President has been toppled in the country's first-ever armed coup. Soldiers are patrolling the streets of the capital.
Earlier, the former Defence Chief of Staff, General Robert Guei, told journalists that President Bedie was no longer the President of the West African Republic and the government had been dissolved. He said the action was taken after negotiations broke down this morning between mutineers and the President. Yesterday, the soldiers fired shots in the air and occupied the state television and radio stations in protest at not being paid bonuses they say they are owed. Jail authorities said that mutineers had opened the doors of Abidjan's main Maca prison to release political prisoners.
