When a rag-tag group of soldiers launched a mutiny in Ivory Coast earlier this month, it looked like they were doomed. A column of elite troops quickly descended to put the mutiny down. The rebels were running out of ammunition and the armories had been locked.

Then, the phone rang.

According to one of the mutiny leaders, the caller, whose identity the mutineers declined to disclose, told them where they could find weapons: at the home of an aide to the parliament speaker.

The group initially feared a trap, but when they reached the location, they found dozens of crates of rifles, machineguns, grenade launchers and ammunition.

Freshly armed, the mutineers were able to hold their ground.

Swiftly, President Alassane Ouattara’s forces sent in to crush the mutiny began falling apart, according to one Special Forces officer who was part of it. The column U-turned and headed back to Abidjan, and for a second time this year, mutineers had brought Ouattara’s government to its knees.

The incident exposed the deep dysfunction and lawlessness now jeopardizing Ivory Coast’s recovery from a decade of turmoil and civil war.

Read the whole story from Reuters.