The Malian government on Monday said 49 soldiers who came from Ivory Coast on Sunday have been arrested, reported The Africa News.
The soldiers came to Mali to work for a contracting company of the United Nations mission in Mali. The government called the Ivorian soldiers as mercenaries, in a move that may likely raise tensions between the two West African countries.
Malian government spokesman Col. Abdoulaye Maiga said two aircraft carrying 49 soldiers along with weapons and ammunition of war and other military equipment arrived at Mali’s international airport on Sunday.
He added that they were illegally on the national territory of Mali, and the transitional government considers them mercenaries.
U.N. mission spokesman Olivier Salgado said the Ivorian soldiers, who arrived in Mali on Sunday, are not part of one of the MINUSMA contingents, but have been deployed in Mali for several years as part of logistical support on behalf of one of the contingents.
He said that their arrival as relief would have been communicated beforehand to the Malian authorities. They are working for a German company known as the Sahelian Aviation Services that is contracted by the U.N. mission.
The Malian government spokesman Maiga said they would put an end to the protection activity of the Sahelian Aviation Services by foreign forces and demand their departure from the country’s territory. He said the government invited the airline Sahelian Aviation Services to henceforth entrust its security to the Malian defense and security forces.
In June, Mali’s transitional government said it will not authorize the U.N. mission to investigate ongoing human rights violations and abuses in the country, adding to further tensions as France also withdraws its forces.
Mali, a poor and landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, underwent two recent military coups– one in August 2020 and the other in May 2021.
