Dozens of agents from an Ivory Coast cocoa market regulator whose bosses have been jailed on suspicion of embezzlement on Wednesday demonstrated to demand payment of their wage arrears. "Take pity on us," read banners held up by the employees before the police broke up the demonstration outside President Laurent Gbagbo's residence.
The 71 agents are demanding the payment of seven months of salary arrears, which amounts to about 355 million CFA francs (540,000 euros, 770,000 dollars), according to their spokesman Bougouhi Siabe. Wages have gone unpaid at the guarantee fund since several of its top officials - along with top figures at several other cocoa regulators - were jailed in mid-2008 for alleged embezzlement, Siabe said.