The Ivory Coast government on Sunday accused Mali’s military junta of hostage-taking its soldiers after the latter laid out conditions for the release of 46 Ivorian soldiers who have been held captive in Mali since last two months, reported The Africa News.
“It’s a hostage-taking that will not remain without consequences,” a source close to the Ivorian presidency told AFP on Sunday.
The source added that Ivory Coast would continue to seek a solution through diplomatic route.
The Ivorian soldiers were detained at Mali’s international airport in Bamako on July 10. Mali’s military junta said they had flown in without permission and were seen as mercenaries.
The Ivory Coast’s government, which has repeatedly requested their release, claimed that the soldiers were deployed as part of a security and logistics support contract signed with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA.
The arrest of the soldiers has resulted in a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Malian prosecutors have charged the Ivorian soldiers with alleged conspiracy and attempting to harm state security, and remanded them in custody.
Earlier this month, Mali’s military government released three female soldiers. The ruling junta had previously insisted the detained troops should face a trial but on Friday the head of the junta, Colonel Assimi Goita, linked link the extradition of Malian dissidents with releasing the soldiers.
Col Goita said thatr even though the Ivory Coast asks for the soldiers’ release, it “continues to serve as a political asylum for certain Malian figures who are the subject of international arrest warrants issued by the courts”.
He called for a lasting solution to the issue that would consist of acceding to the Ivorian request without compensation for Mali.
Goita made the comments in a meeting with the Nigerian foreign minister on Friday, according to a statement posted on social media.
