Ivory Coast dissolves all student unions amid murder inquiry

The Ivory Coast government announced Thursday the “dissolution of all student union associations” after the killing of two people allegedly by members of a powerful student group.

President Alassane Ouattara chaired a National Security Council meeting to approve the measure, which targets in particular the Ivory Coast Student and School Federation (FESCI).

The group has been accused of terrorising campuses in Abidjan, the country’s biggest city.

Several members have been arrested in connection with the murders of two students in August and September.

One of them was Zigui Mars Aubin Deagoue, a rival of FESCI leader, Sie Kambou, who was among the suspects arrested.

FESCI has been accused of operating a de facto monopoly on the attribution of university housing at prices set by its leaders.

The Security Council said that 28 students had been arrested in Abidjan and Bouake in the centre of the country, and around 5,000 people were expelled from student housing.

It also said scores of machetes and grenades had been seized in raids.

Set up in the 1990s, FESCI was originally a protest movement against the ruling party at the time.

Its early leaders included a future prime minister, Guillaume Soro. Another leader Charles Ble Goude went on to become an aide to Laurent Gbagbo, who was president from 2000 until 2010.

Both former FESCI leaders were implicated in the political violence in 2010-2011 in which more than 3,000 people died.