Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara on Saturday assured that the 46 Ivorian soldiers, who have detained in Mali for nearly six months and who have just been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Bamako, will soon return to their home country soon, reported The Africa News.
“My thoughts are particularly with our soldiers detained in Mali since 10 July,” Ouattara said in his end-of-year speech broadcast on national television RTI.
He thanked leaders of several countries, including the president of the Togolese Republic Faure Gnassingbé, for their support that created pressure that forced Mali’s junta to release three female soldiers last September.
On Friday, Mali’s court sentenced 46 Ivorian soldiers to 20 years in prison. The judgement just before the expiry of the deadline set by West African heads of state to the Mali’s junta to release them or face sanctions.
At the end of a two-day trial in Bamako, the court ruled that the soldiers were found guilty of attacking and plotting against the government, undermining the external security of the state, possession, carrying and transporting weapons and munitions of war with the aim of disturbing public order through intimidation or terror. The three female soldiers have been sentenced to death in absentia.
Ivory Coast’s president did not mention anything about the court’s heavy sentences in his speech.
Côte d’Ivoire continue to demand the release of its soldiers, denying all the accusations that they were mercenaries. It claims that the detained soldiers were on a mission for the UN, as part of logistical support operations for the United Nations Mission in Mali (UNMIS).
Last month, an official Ivorian delegation visited Bamako in a fraternal spirit. The meeting ended with the signing of a memorandum, with the Ivorian Minister of Defence, Téné Birahima Ouattara, stressing that the matter was on the way to resolution.
Despite the court’s order, there is still an option left for a presidential pardon from the Malian military junta leader, Assimi Goïta.
