8 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The 46 Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali since July and pardoned this week returned to their country last night, where they were received by their relatives, the country’s president, Alassane Ouattara, and a delegation of ministers.
The return culminated shortly before midnight at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny airport in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, after a stopover in Togo, where the military met briefly with the president, Faure Gnassingbé, who has acted as a mediator in this crisis .
Events precipitated on December 30 when the military were sentenced by the Malian junta to 20 years in prison for “mercenaries” — according to the Ivory Coast they were providing logistical support to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). — before granting them, just a week later, a full pardon as a goodwill gesture from Malian coup leader Colonel Assimi Goita.
The pardon is also intended to reinforce relations between Mali and the Ivory Coast after the signing at the end of 2022 of a Memorandum of Understanding on the promotion of peace and the strengthening of friendly relations.
In fact, and according to sources from Radio France Internationale (RFI), an upcoming meeting between Goita and Ouattara is not ruled out to finish ironing out differences, make sure that this type of incident does not happen again and promote, above all, “the line of the negotiation and diplomacy.
