The United Nations Secretary-General has again called on the Malian authorities to release Ivorian soldiers detained in the embattled West African country since July.
The United Nations is again putting pressure on Bamako over the issue of Ivorian soldiers being detained in Mali.
The UN reaffirms its position expressed last September by its secretariat on the subject, which is responsible for the diplomatic tension between Mali and Ivory Coast.
Speaking to reporters at his end-of-year press conference in New York on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres again called for the release of the 46 soldiers accused of being mercenaries by the Malian junta.
“The problem of the Ivorian troops detained in Mali must be resolved,” he said.
For Guterres, the fact that the arrival of the soldiers in Bamako was marred by “some bureaucratic irregularities” could not explain why they are under detention.
“They must return home as soon as possible” he demanded.
Guterres’ new statement comes a few days after the 62nd ordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held in Abuja, at the end of which the Malian authorities were once again asked to resolve the matter or risk facing new sanctions.
Abidjan speaks of blackmail
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Gambian Omar Touray, said Mali had until January 2023 to comply with the requirements of the regional organization.
To this end, Togo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Dussey made a quiet trip to Bamako and met with the head of the transition, Colonel Assimi Goita.
The 49 Ivorian soldiers were arrested at the Modibo Keita Bamako-Senou International Airport in July and subsequently accused of being mercenaries whose aim was to destabilize the transition that was put in place in Mali in May 2021.
The Ivorian authorities reacted immediately, stating that the soldiers in question are on the payroll of the army and were in Mali as part of a UN mechanism authorizing support to peacekeepers, called the National Support Elements.
At Bamako’s request, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe has been involved in a successful resolution of the crisis between Bamako and Abidjan.
In early September, he obtained the release of three soldiers, specifically the three women who formed part of the group.
But during talks held a few days later with Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs minister, Colonel Assimi Goita demanded that Abidjan extradite Malian personalities being prosecuted in their own country.
Cote d’Ivoire criticised Bamako’s position as a hostage-taking situation and blackmail before referring the matter to ECOWAS for arbitration.
AC/cgd/fss/as/APA