BAMAKO
\nForty-six Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali since July arrived home late Saturday, according to an AFP reporter at the airport, a day after they were pardoned by the neighboring country\u2019s junta.
\nThe troops, whose detention triggered a bitter diplomatic row between the neighboring countries, were arrested on July 10, 2022, after arriving in the Malian capital Bamako.
\nMali accused them of being mercenaries, while Ivory Coast and the United Nations say they were flown in to provide routine backup security for the German contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission.
\nOn December 30, a Malian court sentenced the 46 soldiers to 20 years in prison, while three women among the original 49 arrested, received death sentences in absentia.
\nThey were convicted of an \u201cattack and conspiracy against the government\u201d and of seeking to undermine state security, public prosecutor Ladji Sara said at the time.
\nOn Friday, Mali\u2019s junta leader Assimi Goita pardoned all 49 soldiers. And on Saturday, the remaining 46 arrived at an airport in the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan.
\nAfter their plane landed at 11:40 p.m. (2340 GMT), the uniformed soldiers disembarked one by one, each brandishing a small Ivorian flag.
\nThey were greeted by President Alassane Ouattara before entering the presidential pavilion at the airport where their families were waiting for them.
\nThe soldiers\u2019 trial opened in Bamako on December 29 and concluded the following day.
\nIt came in the run-up to a January 1 deadline set by leaders from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for Mali to release the soldiers or face sanctions.
\nAn Ivorian delegation had traveled to Mali for talks before the trial opened, and the Ivorian defense ministry had said the dispute was \u201con the way to being resolved.\u201d
\nAn agreement reached between Mali and Ivory Coast at the time had left open the possibility of a presidential pardon by Goita.
\nThe Malian government on Friday cited a memorandum of understanding the two countries had signed \u201con the promotion of peace and the strengthening of relations of friendship, brotherhood and good neighborliness between the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Ivory Coast.\u201d
\nIt also thanked Togo\u2019s President Faure Gnassingbe, who mediated in the row, but denounced the \u201caggressive position\u201d of ECOWAS leader Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
\nRelations between Mali and its West African neighbors had already been strained before the arrests, since elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was toppled in August 2020 by officers angered at failures to roll back a jihadist insurgency.
\nIvorian President Ouattara is considered one of the most intransigent West African leaders toward Mali\u2019s putschists.
\nAfter the troops were detained, the UN acknowledged some procedural \u201cdysfunctions\u201d in a note addressed to the Malian government, saying that \u201ccertain measures have not been followed.\u201d
\nThe Ivorian presidency also admitted \u201cshortcomings and misunderstandings.\u201d
\nBut the row escalated in September, when diplomatic sources in the region said Mali wanted Ivory Coast to acknowledge its responsibility and express regret for deploying the soldiers.
\nBamako also wanted Ivory Coast to hand over people who had been on its territory since 2013 but who are wanted in Mali, they said.
\nIvory Coast rejected both demands and was prepared for extended negotiations to free the troops, the sources said.
\n\u201cThis hostage-taking will not be without consequences,\u201d Ouattara said at the time.
\nThe tensions led Mali\u2019s interim prime minister at the time, Abdoulaye Maiga, to denounce a \u201csynchronization of actions\u201d against Mali at the UN General Assembly in September.
\nHe attacked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for having declared that the Ivorian soldiers were not mercenaries.
\nHe also criticized ECOWAS chief Embalo as well as the heads of state of Ivory Coast and Niger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BAMAKO Forty-six Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali since July arrived home late Saturday, according to an AFP reporter at the airport, a day after they were pardoned by the neighboring country\u2019s junta. The troops, whose detention triggered a bitter diplomatic row between the neighboring countries, were arrested on July 10, 2022, after arriving in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-306283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n