The Bamako Court of Appeal, December 2022. STRINGER / AFP
The forty-six Ivorian soldiers suspected of being “mercenaries” who have been held in Mali since July were sentenced to twenty years in prison on Friday December 30, ahead of the expiry of the ultimatum that West African leaders had given Malians for May 1. Junta had formed to free them on Jan.
They were found guilty of “assassination and conspiracy against the government”, “undermining the external security of the state”, “possessing, carrying and transporting weapons and ammunition of war (…) to disturb public order by intimidation or terror”, said Attorney General Ladji Sara, quoted in a statement.
On July 10, 49 Ivorian soldiers were arrested in Mali, then charged in mid-August with “attempting to undermine the state’s external security” and officially jailed. Three Ivorian women belonging to this group of soldiers were released after mediation in mid-September. They were sentenced to death in absentia after the trial, which took place in Bamako on Thursday and Friday, on the same grounds as the 46 other soldiers still in prison.
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Bamako accuses these Ivorian soldiers of traveling under false identities and carrying weapons without informing the authorities. The Malian junta has built this affair into a manifestation of sovereignty, which it says it has made with France a cardinal principle of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and even Minusma, the UN stabilization mission in Mali. Abidjan asserts that these soldiers were on behalf of the United Nations in logistical support operations for Minusma and calls for their release.
Possibility of a presidential pardon on Saturday
At the beginning of December, the West African heads of state and government, who had met without Mali for a summit in Abuja, called for the release of the soldiers before January 1 under threat of new sanctions. On December 22, an official Ivorian delegation visited Bamako in a “fraternal” spirit. It ended with the signing of a memorandum in which the Ivorian Defense Minister stressed that the case was “in the process of being resolved”.
The content of the talks about the Ivorian soldiers was not made public, but Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told the press it was an “unfortunate incident”, while the Ivorian Defense Minister spoke of a misunderstanding. Terms that are a far cry from the terms “hostage-taking” and “mercenary” that both parties have been using for several months.
The deal reached between Mali and Côte d’Ivoire last week leaves open the possibility of a presidential pardon for the head of the Malian junta, Assimi Goïta, who is scheduled to address his wishes to the nation on Saturday. When asked by Agence France-Presse, a source close to the Ivorian presidency said she did not want to respond.
In this case, in a note addressed to the Malian government, the UN recognized “dysfunctions” and admitted that “certain measures were not followed”. The Ivorian presidency also acknowledged “shortcomings and misunderstandings” in September, statements which the Malian side readily took as an apology. A week later, however, relations were strained again when the junta openly linked the release of the remaining 46 soldiers to the extradition of Malian figures living in Côte d’Ivoire. “A hostage-taking that will not remain without consequences,” protested the Ivorian presidency.
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