Ivory Coast Opposition Party’s Deputy Chief Arrested

(Corrects reference to Akoun in first paragraph to show he is party’s second-ranking official.)

Laurent Akoun, the second-ranking official in Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo’s opposition political party, was arrested today, a party spokesman said.

Akoun, the general secretary of the Front Populaire Ivoirien, was arrested after he attended a rally in Adzope, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Abidjan, the commercial capital. He has been transferred to the investigation unit of the nation’s paramilitary forces in Abidjan, party official Sebastien Dano Djedje said by phone today.

Paul Koffi Koffi, the minister delegate for defense, didn’t answer a call made to his mobile-phone seeking a comment.

Ivory Coast has faced a series of attacks on military targets since the beginning of August. As many as 10 soldiers were killed earlier this month in Abidjan in attacks against a police station, an army checkpoint and a military base.

Authorities say Gbagbo’s supporters are behind the attacks, which they say are to destabilize the West African nation. The country is recovering from a post-election crisis that killed at least 3,000 people last year.

Gbagbo’s party denies that it’s behind the attacks.

To contact the reporters on this story: Olivier Monnier in Abidjan at omonnier@bloomberg.net; Baudelaire Mieu in Abidjan at bmieu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emily Bowers at ebowers1@bloomberg.net