Cote d’Ivoire’s government has pardoned 200 university students arrested for causing damage to public property during demonstrations in the 1998-1999 school year.
President Henri Konan Bedie signed the pardon ahead of the new school year, which began on Monday, the secretary general of the government, Adolphe Djidji, said in a communique published at the weekend.
The Federation estudiantine et scholaire de Cote d’Ivoire (FESCI) which organised the demonstrations, called on Monday for a continued boycott of classes. The federation is demanding the construction of new university halls of residence and the readmission of expelled students.
Ivorian universities have been a hotbed of discontent for years and the 1998-99 academic year was marked by several protests that forced many faculties to annul the school year.
The students called for improved lodging conditions and stipends and, after arrests that accompanied the first protests, the liberation of their comrades.
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