Troopers’ return alerts the obvious decision of a bitter diplomatic standoff between Mali and the Ivory Coast.
Forty-six Ivorian troopers accused by Mali of being mercenaries have returned house after six months in captivity.
The troops arrived at Ivory Coast’s Abidjan airport late on Saturday, a day after receiving a pardon from Mali’s navy ruler.
Their arrest within the Malian capital of Bamako in July of final yr had triggered a bitter diplomatic struggle between the neighbouring international locations.
Mali accused them of being mercenaries, whereas Ivory Coast mentioned they have been flown in to offer routine backup safety for the German contingent of a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
Rising from their airplane house on Saturday, every soldier held a small Ivorian flag and smiled as they shook palms with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, who was ready to greet them on the airport.
“Now that this disaster is behind us, we are able to resume regular relations with the brother nation of Mali,” Ouattara mentioned as soon as they have been all on Ivorian soil.
A spokesperson for the troopers thanked Ouattara, and “the Ivorian folks for his or her help and lively solidarity”.
“We’re blissful and relieved to return to the motherland,” he mentioned.
Their launch comes days after a court docket in Bamako sentenced them to twenty years in jail on costs of conspiring towards the Malian authorities and searching for to undermine state safety. Three ladies, who had been among the many unique 49 arrested on the airport and launched earlier, obtained demise sentences in absentia.
The sentences got here forward of a January 1 deadline set by leaders from the Financial Group of West African States (ECOWAS) for Mali to launch the troopers or face sanctions.
However on Friday, Mali’s navy chief Assimi Goita pardoned all 49.
The Malian authorities cited a memorandum of understanding that the 2 international locations had signed “on the promotion of peace and the strengthening of relations of friendship, brotherhood and good neighbourliness between the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Ivory Coast”.
It additionally thanked Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe, who had mediated within the dispute.
Relations between Mali and its West African neighbours have been strained since Goita led a coup towards elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020. The nation’s new rulers initially promised elections by February of final yr however then introduced a four-year delay, weeks forward of the vote.
The transfer prompted stiff ECOWAS sanctions on Mali that crippled the nation’s economic system.
The punitive measures have been lifted in July when Bamako proposed a 24-month transition to democracy and promised a brand new electoral legislation.