MINUSMA says that “they were not part” of the mission but emphasizes that “they provide logistical support on behalf of one of the contingents”
July 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Mali’s military junta has confirmed the arrest of 49 Ivorian soldiers at the airport in the capital, Bamako, and has stressed that it considers that they are “mercenaries” who were carrying “weapons and ammunition of war, as well as other military equipment”.
The spokesman for the transitional government, Abdoulaye Maiga, has indicated in a statement that all of them were arrested on Sunday around 11:15 am (local time) after the landing of two aircraft arriving from the Ivory Coast.
“Thanks to the professionalism of the Malian Defense and Security Forces, it was determined that 49 Ivorian soldiers were illegally on Malian national territory. For this reason, they were immediately arrested and their weapons, ammunition and equipment were seized,” he explained.
Thus, he has detailed that among them there were “about 30 members of the special forces” and that “the real profession of the military was largely hidden.” “In most of the passports of the detained soldiers, professions such as student, driver, builder, mechanic, salesman, electrician, security guard, painter, etc.” appeared, he revealed.
Maiga emphasized that the detainees “gave four different versions to justify their presence on Malian territory, including a confidential mission, rotation within the framework of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), providing security to a logistics base of the Sahelian Aviation Services airline and protect the German contingent”.
In this sense, he stressed that the authorities “immediately” contacted the Ivory Coast, which “affirmed that it was unaware of the presence of the Ivorian military”, before denouncing that “procedures were not respected” for the deployment of armed military personnel in the country.
“Interrogated by the Malian authorities, MINUSMA said that it did not have a scheduled rotation on July 10, 2022”, he pointed out, while stressing that Bamako “was not informed through official channels of a deployment of Ivorian soldiers”, for what he has spoken of “a flagrant violation of the provisions of article 38 of the Malian Penal Code on attacks against the external security of the State and the integrity of the territory”.
“Given the defects and infractions committed within the framework of the deployment of these 49 Ivorian soldiers, the transitional government considers them to be mercenaries”, he said, before denouncing the “evil intentions” of the detainees to “hit the dynamics of refounding and guaranteeing of Mali’s security, as well as a return to constitutional order”.
For all these reasons, Maiga has announced that the Malian authorities have decided “to put an immediate end to the protection activities of Sahelian Aviation Services (…) and demand their immediate departure from Malian territory” and send the detainees to the judicial authorities.
The government spokesman emphasized his desire to maintain good relations with the Ivory Coast and said that “he would like to count on the cooperation of the sister republic of the Ivory Coast to clarify everything related to this matter”.
For his part, the MINUSMA spokesman, Olivier Salgado, has said through his account on the social network Twitter that the detained soldiers “were not part of one of the MINUSMA contingents.” “These soldiers have been deployed for years in Mali in the framework of logistical support on behalf of one of our contingents,” he argued.
“According to our information, his relief on July 10 would have been previously communicated to the national authorities,” he stressed, before stating that “the national support elements are national troops deployed by the countries that contribute troops in support of their contingents. “.
“This is a practice applied regularly in peacekeeping missions. They are not counted as MINUSMA troops. The relief of MINUSMA contingents is planned and carried out in agreement with the Malian authorities,” he pointed out. .
For this reason, Salgado stressed that the UN mission “is working to guarantee that the rotations of the West African contingents, which are being delayed due to the lack of the required authorizations, can be carried out as soon as possible.”
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