All driving test examiners have been suspended across Ivory Coast while the government "cleans up" the transport sector.

Fraud, corruption and a rise in road accidents are of concern, it says.

Police officers will take over and officiate driving tests for a period of three months from next week, announced Transport Minister Amadou Koné.

He said the country enjoys "better quality roads" after recent investment but said human error was behind many of the latest accidents.

"This is not an incrimination of the licence as such but there are a great number of matters on which we have decided to be uncompromising."

Around 1,400 people die each year in road accidents in Ivory Coast.

At least 38 people have been killed this month alone, including eight who burned to death after a car and a minibus collided on the main road 149 km (92 miles) from the biggest city Abidjan.

While Ivory Coast fares better than many other countries in Africa according to World Health Organization estimates, globally it is thought to have the 50th-worst death rate for road accidents out of 183 countries.