Like the three women among them, the Ivorian soldiers arrested last July in Mali, made a stopover on Saturday in Lomé after their release facilitated by the Togolese authorities.
The 46 men released by Mali after the presidential pardon granted to them the day before, arrived on January 07, 2023 in Lomé where they were received by the Togolese Head of State Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé.
“The Togolese stopover allowed the delegation to express the gratitude of the military and of Côte d’Ivoire as a whole to the Head of State for his involvement in the management of this crisis and for his leadership”, affirms the presidency. Togolese in a press release.
“Faure Gnassingbé was delighted with this happy ending and reiterated his commitment to continue to work for peace between States and cohesion between peoples”, adds his office.
As Mali faced diplomatic challenges following the coup against Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, tension between the West African country and Côte d’Ivoire rose after 49 Ivorian soldiers surrendered according to Abidjan to the UN peacekeeping mission were arrested in Bamako.
The transitional power accused them of “crimes of attack and conspiracy against the Government”; undermining the external security of the state; carrying and possession of arms and ammunition for war or defense intentionally in relation to an individual and collective enterprise whose purpose is to disturb public order through intimidation or terror”.
Attempts to solve the problems by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) did not help. However, the mediation of Lomé allowed the release of the soldiers who were even condemned a few days ago.
Ivorian soldiers released by Mali make a stopover in Togo
