Bamako (Reuters)
Yesterday the presidency of Mali announced that the transitional government had pardoned 49 soldiers from the Ivory Coast arrested last July, accused of having plotted against the Malian government. The arrests of the soldiers have sparked a diplomatic row between the two neighboring countries and widespread condemnation from regional allies.
Mali’s ruling military council described the soldiers as mercenaries, while Côte d’Ivoire said they were part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
The authorities subsequently released three of them, while the remaining 46 soldiers were sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment on 30 December for attempting to undermine state security, while the other three were sentenced to death in absentia.
“The transitional president, Colonel Assimi Guetta, has fully pardoned and overturned the sentences of 49 Ivorian soldiers,” a Malian government spokesman said in a statement on national television.
“This gesture reaffirms Guetta’s commitment to peace, dialogue and African unity,” the statement added.
The statement described the move as an “independent decision” which symbolizes the president’s commitment to good governance and “preserving brotherly relations” with countries in the region, particularly Côte d’Ivoire. He did not specify when the soldiers would leave the prison.
Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, who has been mediating the crisis, met with Guetta in Bamako on Thursday before heading to Ivory Coast.
