Donwahi and his aides went directly to the local airport and their plane "took off straight away", the photographer said, adding that neither the minister nor the mutineers made any comments.
The defence minister had flown into Bouake earlier Saturday in a bid to defuse the crisis sparked by soldiers taking to the streets demanding bonuses, pay rises, housing and faster promotion.
President Alassane Ouattara had earlier in the evening announced that a deal had been reached between the two sides after Donwahi met with a delegation of mutineers.
The announcement came after shots rang out at a military base in Abidjan as soldiers put up barricades in the city, a day after troops took over Bouake, firing rocket launchers in the streets and terrifying residents.
But shortly afterwards, angry soldiers rejected the terms of the deal, firing Kalashnikov rifles and heavy weapons outside the offices where the talks were taking place to block the minister and his team from leaving.
The soldiers are seeking bonuses, pay rises and faster promotion.
The deal was reached after a meeting between Defence Minister Alain Richard Donwahi and a delegation of the mutineers in Bouake.
The situation had dramatically escalated Saturday as the unrest spread to Abidjan, the bustling commercial hub of the world's largest cocoa producer and home to the presidency, government and parliament.
Gunshots rang out inside a military base in an upscale neighbourhood of Abidjan on Saturday in the latest bout of unrest following a mutiny by troops in the north over wages.
"Shots were heard here in Abidjan at the Akouedo military base," a newsflash on national television said, referring to a camp in the northern sector of the city, which is Ivory Coast's economic capital.
Troops closed off a large junction near the Akouedo base, leaving all roads leading to the camp gridlocked with traffic and hampering access to several neighbouring districts, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.
"Soldiers shut down the junction in front of the new camp. We have been forced to taken another route because of all the traffic jams," said one young woman sitting at the wheel of her car.
The wave of unrest erupted early on Friday in Bouake, Ivory Coast's second city, where disgruntled troops seized control, firing heavy weapons in the streets, and attacking police posts as they pressed their demand for a hefty pay rise.
The protests have quickly spread to other areas, including the western city of Man, with the defence minister flying to Bouake to try and defuse the crisis.
Soldiers also took to the streets of Daloa and Daoukro in the country's centre as well as Korhogo in the north on Friday. Though the protests there eased, the unrest had spread to Man in the west as well as Abidjan by Saturday.
