The junta in power in Bamako wants to condition the release of 46 soldiers arrested in July to the extradition of Malian political figures living in Abidjan.
Le Monde with AFP
Côte d’Ivoire considers that its 46 soldiers detained in Mali for two months are “hostages”, after declarations of the junta in power in Bamako conditioning their release to the extradition of Malian political figures living in Abidjan. “It is a hostage taking that will not remain without consequences. Our position is clear: this market is unacceptable,” a source close to the Ivorian presidency said on Sunday, September 11. “We always favor the diplomatic solution. We must avoid the policy of the worst,” added this source, which hopes that the Malian junta “will return to her position”.
An extraordinary summit of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) must be held next week in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, and should evoke the subject, according to This same source. “If by then nothing is adjusted by diplomatic route, ECOWAS will be obliged to take sanctions,” she predicts.
On July 10, 49 Ivorian soldiers had been arrested in Mali, described as “mercenaries”, then charged in mid-August as “attempt to affect the external security of the State” and formally imprisoned. Abidjan assures that these soldiers were on a mission for the UN in the context of logistical support operations at the United Nations Mission in Mali, MINUSMA, and requires their release.
Last weekend, three women out of the 49 soldiers were released, “a humanitarian gesture” from Mali qualified as “good sign” by Abidjan. But Friday, the chief of the junta in power in Bamako, Colonel Assimi Goïta, spoke of necessary “counterpart”, confirming information according to which the extradition of Malian personalities was part of the discussion on the fate of Ivorian soldiers.
mediation of the Togolese president
At the time when Côte d’Ivoire asks for the release of its soldiers, [it] continues to serve as a political asylum for certain Malian personalities subject to international arrest warrants issued by the justice “, said Colonel Goïta. “These same personalities benefit from the protection of Côte d’Ivoire to destabilize Mali,” he insisted. He notably alludes to Karim Keïta, the son of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, overthrown by the colonels in 2020, and to Tiéman Hubert Coulibaly, Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs under Mr. Keïta.
Several mediations are underway to obtain the release of the 46 soldiers still prisoners, including that of the Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbé, and Malian religious leaders.
In this file, the UN had recognized “dysfunctions”, in a note addressed to the Malian government, and admitted that “certain measures have not been followed”. Côte d’Ivoire, for its part, is committed to “respecting the United Nations procedures as well as the new Malian rules and provisions enacted relating to the deployment of military forces in Mali”.
Relations between Mali and its Ivorian neighbor have deteriorated since colonels have taken by force in August 2020, the head of this country faced since 2012 with jihadist attacks and plunged into a deep security and political crisis . Bamako notably accuses Abidjan of having encouraged his West African partners of tackling the sanctions against the Malian soldiers. The sanctions were finally lifted in early July.