Mali military leader pardons 49 jailed Ivorian soldiers

Barely a week after a Court of Appeal in Bamako had sentenced 49 soldiers from Cote d’ Ivoire on a peace-keeping mission in the country to prison over alleged involvement in mercenary activities, leader of the military junta in the West African nation of in Mali, Colonel Assimi Goita, has pardoned the convicted troops.

The soldiers were arrested last year, tried in one day and convicted by the Court of Appeal in December, for allegedly undermining Mali’s state security and conspiracy against the government.

Mali’s decision to proceed with the trial of the Ivorian soldiers had threatened to throw the West African sub-region into a huge diplomatic row.

The 49 Ivorian soldiers were detained in July when they went to work for Sahelian Aviation Services, a private company contracted to work in Mali by the United Nations.

The pardon comes one week after 46 of the soldiers were sentenced to 20 years in prison. Three of them, all women, who had earlier been freed in September, were sentenced to death in absentia, by the appellant court in Mali.

Mali Government spokesperson, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, who shared the news on national television, Saturday, said; “His Excellency Col. Assimi Goita, President of the Transition, Head of State granted his pardon with full remission of sentences to the 49 Ivoirians convicted by the Malian courts.

“This gesture, which once again, demonstrates his attachment to peace, dialogue, pan-Africanism, and the preservation of fraternal and secular relations with the countries of the region,” added Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.

It would be recalled that on December 4, 2022, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) set January 1, 2023 as deadline for the soldiers’ release, failing which the bloc would impose new sanctions against Mali.

However, after the deadline was missed, ECOWAS decided not to sanction Mali.

It would be recalled that a court in Mali on January 1, sentenced 46 Ivorian troops whose detention in Mali sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries to 20 years in prison, the public prosecutor said.

The Ivoirian soldiers were found guilty of an “attack and conspiracy against the government” and seeking to undermine state security, public prosecutor Ladji Sara said in a statement.

The court proceedings were held behind closed doors and under heavy security, journalist noted.

The 49 troops were detained after they arrived at Bamako airport on July 10, Three of them, all women, were later freed.

Those remaining, were branded by Mali’s junta as “mercenaries”, were charged the following month with seeking to undermine state security.

Ivory Coast and the United Nations claimed the troops were flown in to provide routine backup security for the German contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali.

The row escalated last September, when diplomatic sources in the region said Mali wanted Cote d’Ivoire to acknowledge its responsibility and express regret for deploying the soldiers.

Bamako also wanted Cote d’Ivoire to hand over people who had been on its territory since 2013 but who are wanted in Mali, they said.

Ivory Coast rejected both demands and was prepared for extended negotiations to free the men, the sources said.

An Ivorian delegation travelled to Mali last week for talks on the crisis, and the Ivorian defence ministry said it was “on the way to being resolved”.