The Malian authorities have described as « mercenaries », the 49 Ivorian soldiers who were arrested on Sunday at Bamako airport, and questioned on the reasons for their presence in Mali.
« Sunday July 10, 2022, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., two aircraft registered ZS-BBI and UR-CTH, coming from the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, carrying forty-nine (49) Ivorian soldiers with their weapons and ammunition war, as well as other military equipment, landed at President Modibo Keita Sénou International Airport,” said government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga in a statement read Monday on national radio.
These soldiers, who arrived “illegally on the national territory of Mali (…) without a mission order or authorization” would have justified their trip to Bamako by “four different versions”.
For some, they fulfill a “confidential mission”, for others, they had to ensure a “rotation within the framework of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)”. Still others mentioned a mission to “protect the German contingent” or “securing the logistics base of the airline Sahelian Aviation Services”.
Immediately contacted by their Ivorian counterparts, “officials from the Malian Defense and Security Forces said that they were unaware of the presence of the Ivorian soldiers arrested in Mali”, according to Maiga.
It is « in view of these breaches and offenses committed » that the Malian government considered these soldiers « as mercenaries, as defined by the OAU Convention on the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa ».
Bamako considered that « the fatal intention of those arrested was clearly to break the dynamics of the refoundation and securing of Mali, as well as the return to constitutional order ».
These soldiers, about thirty of whom belong to the Ivorian special forces, have been stripped of their weapons and should be placed at the disposal of the Malian justice system.
By OMA Newsletter N° 776 of 12/07/2022
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
