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Aide to former military strongman detained

    ABIDJAN

    The aide-de-camp of Cote d'Ivoire's former de facto ruler, General Robert Guei, and six other soldiers are being detained at the military prison in Abidjan after being charged on Thursday with threatening state security, local media reported.

    The aide, Fabien Coulibaly, had arrived in Abidjan from Guei's home village of Guessesso to prepare security arrangements for Guei's participation in Cote d'Ivoire's national reconciliation forum, which began earlier this month.

    He was arrested on Tuesday after making enquiries about military equipments and ammunitions contained at the national Air Force base and the national armoury. He also asked "some people to cooperate with him on a few things", the Abidjan daily 'Le Jour' quoted the minister of defence and civil protection, Moise Lida Kouassi as saying over the weekend.

    Coulibaly and a number of other members of the military have been living with Guei in Guessesso, some 600 km west of Abidjan, since last October when Guei was forced out of office after losing presidential elections.

    This latest development casts doubts on Guei's attendance of the forum, a two-month long initiative aimed at finding solutions to the country's political problems, local newspapers have reported. Guei, who took power following a coup d'etat on 24 December 1999, has called for the release of the soldiers.

    Meanwhile, Cote d'Ivoire will begin an 18-month compulsory military service in December in an effort to strengthen national security. Conscripts will have to be at least 18 years old, the media reported Minister Lida as saying.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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