Ivorian soldiers who were detained in Mali earlier this year were brought in for trial at a court of appeal in Bamako on Thursday, reported The France 24.
The court trial came in the run-up to a January 1 deadline set by West African leaders for Mali to release the soldiers or face sanctions.
Forty-nine soldiers from Ivory Coast were detained by Malian authorities after they arrived at Bamako airport on July 10. Mali’s military junta called them “mercenaries”. Three of them, all women, were later released.
The remaining 46 Ivorian soldiers were charged with charges seeking to undermine state security.
Ivory Coast and the United Nations said that the troops were flown in to provide routine backup security for the German contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali. Last week, a delegation from the Ivorian Coast flew to Mali for talks on the crisis, and the Ivorian defence ministry said the issue was close to being resolved.
A Malian appeal court official said the soldiers would be made to go through a special trial on Thursday after the case was submitted by military investigators.
“The Bamako court of appeal will be trying the 46 Ivorian soldiers who were arrested with weapons at Bamako airport on July 10,” the official said.
On December 4, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders set New Year’s Day as a deadline for the soldiers’ release, failing which the bloc would impose new sanctions against Mali.
The matter 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.
Bamako also demanded Ivory Coast to hand over people who had been on its territory since 2013 who are wanted in Mali.
The Ivorian government rejected both demands and was prepared for extended negotiations to free their soldiers.
Last month, Ivory Coast said it would withdraw its troops from a UN force that is helping the country in a 10-year-old fight against jihadists.
