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By TOUSSAINT NGOTTA
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Five inmates at an Ivory Coast
prison were killed when a routine search turned into a violent
clash, authorities said on Wednesday.
Prisoners in Bouake, the country’s second largest city, reacted
with “hostility” to a routine search for prohibited items on
Tuesday, public prosecutor Abel Nangbelé Yeo said in a
statement. Five prisoners were killed and 29 people, including
six prison officers and 23 prisoners, were injured, the
statement added.
When security officers arrived in the building, they were
attacked by prisoners armed with clubs, machetes, and other
blunt objects, the statement said.
The officers fired warning shots “to cover their retreat," the
statement added, without providing details on how prisoners were
killed.
As a result of the search, officers seized blocks of cannabis,
Tramadol tablets, mobile phones and three grenades.
Ivory Coast has been criticized by rights groups and the U.N.
for its prison conditions.
Last year, the U.N. Committee against Torture expressed concern
over a “very high rate” of prison overcrowding in Ivory Coast,
and criticized the condition, including poor sanitation, a lack
of ventilation and inadequate quality food and water. It also
expressed alarm at “the extent of prison violence.”
Earlier this year, a prisoner died during an escape attempt from
the Bouake prison.
The public prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that it had
opened an investigation into Tuesday's events.
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