Both Abidjan and Bamako say they are keeping faith in diplomacy to resolve a feud surrounding the detention in Mali since July of 46 Ivorian soldiers on suspicion of being mercenaries.
Is the detention of the Ivorian soldiers on the way to being resolved?
A delegation from Cote d’Ivoire led by the Minister of Defense who incidentally is the brother of President Alassane Ouattara, Ibrahima Téné Ouattara, was received in audience in Bamako on Thursday by the head of the transition Colonel Assimi Goita.
The meeting was sanctioned by the signing of a memorandum aimed at “promoting peace” and strengthening “relations of friendship, brotherhood and good neighborliness between the two countries,” the Malian Presidency says on its Facebook page.
According to Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, the aim is to move together towards “a positive dynamic to overcome” the conflict that arose from the arrest last July of 49 Ivorian soldiers charged with “attempting to undermine state security” by the Prosecutor General at the High Court of Commune VI in Bamako.
Abidjan refutes this accusation, stating that the soldiers in question belonged to the army and had gone to Mali as part of a UN mission.
Dramatic turn of events
In September, Togolese mediation obtained the release of the three women who were part of the detained group.
But immediately afterwards, Goita, who was receiving the Nigerian Foreign Affairs minister, demanded the extradition of Malians in exile in Cote d’Ivoire in exchange for the release of the 46 Ivorian soldiers.
Abidjan refused, calling Bamako’s demand a blackmailing act before deciding to involve the regional bloc Ecowas in the search of a solution to the diplomatic crisis between the two neighbors.
In a special session in New York, on the sidelines of the 77th UN General Assembly, the sub-regional institution, under the leadership of current president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau, demanded the release of the Ivorian soldiers.
To this end, a high-level delegation traveled to Bamako in late September to meet with Goita, who has governed Mali since May 2021, following a coup against Colonel Major Bah Ndao, whom he and his comrades-in-arms had installed at the head of the transition after the overthrow of civilian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK) in August 2020.
This whistle-stop trip probably did not produce the expected results, hence the new request for their release made by West African leaders at the 62nd Ecowas Ordinary Summit, held in Abuja on December 4 with the threat of new sanctions if this was turned down by Bamako.
The following week, Togo’s Foreign Minister, Robert Dussey, was dispatched to Bamako to deliver the message to Colonel Goita.
On Thursday, December 22, Mr. Dussey accompanied the Ivorian delegation to Bamako.
AC/cgd/fss/as/APA