Ivory Coast team in Mali for talks on detained soldiers

• Ivory Coast has sent a delegation to Mali to discuss the detention of 46 Ivorian soldiers.
• The conflict began on July 10, when 49 Ivorian troops were detained upon arrival at Malian airport.
• ECOWAS has given Mali until the end of the year to release the troops, which it calls “mercenaries”.

According to Malian officials, an Ivory Coast delegation arrived in Mali on Thursday to discuss a five-month-old dispute sparked by the detention of 46 Ivorian soldiers.

ECOWAS has given Mali until the end of the year to release the troops, which the ruling junta has labeled “mercenaries.”

The conflict began on July 10, when 49 Ivorian soldiers were detained upon arrival at the airport in Mali. Three were eventually set free.

Tene Birahima Ouattara, the head of the official Ivorian delegation, stated, “This is an issue that is being resolved, and we can say that we have just made a fruitful trip here on Malian soil.”

“There was a misunderstanding between the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire a few months ago, it was good that we could meet to discuss it. This is what we did,” he added.

Ivory Coast and the United Nations stated that the troops were airlifted to Mali to provide routine backup security for the German contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping mission.

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However, Bamako accused them of being “mercenaries” and charged them with undermining state security in August.

Ivory Coast announced last month that it would withdraw its troops from the United Nations mission MINUSMA as the dispute escalated.

A summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on December 4 set the day of the New Year as the deadline for their release, failing which the bloc would impose new sanctions against Mali.

Relations between ECOWAS and Mali have been strained since the overthrow of elected president Ibrahim Boubar Keita in August 2020 by officers enraged over the failure to crush a jihadist insurgency.

“We were able to note the willingness of both sides to work to overcome this event by preserving the ties that exist between our two countries,” said Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop.

“Our discussions have led to the signing of a memorandum of understanding to promote peace and work to strengthen friendly relations between the two countries,” he added.

The Ivorian delegation will meet with junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita and hold a meeting with government officials, according to a spokesperson for Goita.

“As a gesture of goodwill by Mali, the Ivorian delegation is also scheduled to meet the detained soldiers,” the source added.

On Thursday, the Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey, whose nation is mediating the dispute, was also expected in Bamako.

“He is going to reconcile the different points of view to get a swift solution to the problem,” a diplomat in Bamako said.

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