Ivory Coast is to pay its soldiers 15m CFA francs ($25,500; £20,000) each to leave its large and mutiny-prone army, news agency Reuters reports.
The government is hoping to retire 4,400 troops – almost a fifth of its reported 25,000-strong army – by 2020, the agency said.
A thousand of those will voluntarily retire by the end of the year.
However, officials would not confirm exactly what the pay off would be – but Reuters and a number of other outlets report it will be more than $25,000 per soldier.
This is far more than the average wage, understood to be in the region of $1,200 a year.
Ivory Coast was Africa’s fastest growing economy in 2016, but it suffered earlier this year after numerous uprisings by low-ranking soldiers.
In May, a five-day mutiny over pay ended with the government offering thousands of soldiers almost $12,000.
Many soldiers are former rebels who fought in a series of civil conflicts.
Source: BBC
