Ivory Coast assassination plot arrests
Eleven people have been detained in the Ivory Coast charged with an alleged assassination plot, the security minister said.
“Those concerned have been placed at the disposition of the competent services of the national police,” Martin Bleou said in a statement, AFP reported.
The arrests had been made “in the context of information relative to a plan to assassinate political, administrative and military personalities,” Bleou said. He did not specify who was targeted.
He said those arrested were being well treated and were in perfect health.
Political opponent arrested
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“Those concerned have been placed at the disposition of the competent services of the national police” Martin Bleou – Security Minister |
Alphonse Kobenan Kossonou, a member of the political bureau of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI, formerly in power) was taken from his home in Abidjan on Thursday and there has been no news of him since, Adou Kouame, a family friend, told AFP.
Two armed men in plain clothes came to his house and told him to accompany them to the police station.
“Since then, in spite of intensive searching, we have had no news of Kossonou,” the friend said.
Ivory Coast has been in turmoil since September 2002 when a military coup was launched against President Laurent Gbagbo.
Although a government of national reconciliation has been established, the country is effectively cut in two with rebels controlling the north.
In February human rights bodies denounced the presence of a “death squad” operating in the area controlled by those loyal to the government.