the 49 convicted Ivorian soldiers were pardoned by the head of the junta

The head of the Malian junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, granted Friday January 6 the pardon “with full remission of sentences” to the forty-nine Ivorian soldiers arrested in July and subsequently sentenced by the Malian courts.

The text of the presidential decree specifies that these soldiers had been sentenced for “crimes of attack and conspiracy against the government, threat to the external security of the State, possession, carrying and transport of weapons and ammunition of war”.

These Ivorian soldiers had been arrested in Mali, described as “mercenaries” then charged in mid-August with “attempting to undermine the external security of the State” and imprisoned. Three of them, women, were later released. The forty-six others were sentenced on December 30 to twenty years’ imprisonment. Bamako accused these Ivorian soldiers of having traveled under false identities and with weapons without the authorities having been informed.

Since July, Côte d’Ivoire had been demanding the release of its soldiers, categorically denying that they were “mercenaries”claiming that they were on a mission for the UN, as part of logistical support operations for Minusma.

The Malian junta has erected this affair into a manifestation of the sovereignty which it says it has made a cardinal principle vis-à-vis France, pushed towards the exit, of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS ) and even the UN stabilization mission (Minusma).

“Friendship Relations”

The pardon was granted a week after a visit to Bamako by an official Ivorian delegation on December 22, which met the Malian authorities in an atmosphere “fraternal”. The Ivorian Minister of Defense then assured that the case was “in the process of being resolved”.

grace comes “consolidating the dynamic created” by the agreement signed that day by the two countries to promote ” the peace “ and the “strengthening of friendship, fraternity and good neighborly relations” between them, underlines the Malian press release.

Communiqué N°043 of January 06, 2023 of the Transitional Government relating to the presidential pardon granted to… https://t.co/OOs3mUMi0j

— MaliMaeci (@Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mali)

At the beginning of December, the leaders of the West African states (ECOWAS) had set an ultimatum to the Malian junta, demanding that it release the 46 Ivorian soldiers still detained before January 1, on pain of sanctions.

The Malian junta let this deadline pass. In his end-of-year speech, the head of the Malian junta did not mention the Ivorian soldiers. At the same time, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara had promised his fellow citizens that the imprisoned soldiers would return “Ivorian soil soon”.

On Wednesday, the current president of ECOWAS was conciliatory, assuring that there would be no immediate sanctions against Mali despite the expiration of the ultimatum, to let the Togolese mediation work on the release of 46 Ivorian soldiers.

Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé was meanwhile visiting Bamako, where “he pleaded for presidential pardon”an official of the Malian presidency told Agence France-Presse.

In this case, the UN recognized “malfunctions” in a note addressed to the Malian government and admitted that “some measures were not followed”. The Ivorian presidency had also recognized in September “mistakes and misunderstandings”remarks willingly considered on the Malian side as the apologies he was asking for.