By Toussaint N’gotta, ABIDJAN
Ivory Coast
Forty-six Ivorian soldiers
returned home to cheers and celebrations after being detained for six months in
Mali.
Waving flags, the beaming
soldiers saluted Ivorian officials as they descended the military plane in the
capital, Abidjan, on Saturday evening.
Forty-nine soldiers were
detained in July when they went to work for Sahelian Aviation Services, a
private company contracted to work in Mali by the United Nations. Mali
considered them to be mercenaries and detained them.
The soldiers were pardoned
last week after 46 of them were sentenced to 20 years in prison for undermining
state security in Mali and for attacks on Mali’s government. Three other
defendants, all women who had been released in September, were tried in
absentia and sentenced to death.
Speaking to the soldiers at a
packed ceremony after they landed, Ivory Coast’s president, Alassane Ouattara,
said they shouldn’t blame themselves for what happened.
“The mission was not easy but
you are back exactly six months after your departure from the Ivory Coast,”
Ouattara said.
Shaking hands and taking
photos with the president, the soldiers were embraced by emotional friends and
family.
“I am very happy to return to
my native land. It was our wish,” said Sergeant Youssouf Dah one of the
soldiers who returned. “Today his excellency the president of the republic
(and) supreme commander of the armed forces has made an effort so that we can
find our families,” he said.
Mali’s government said the
decision to pardon the soldiers demonstrates the military junta’s commitment to
peace and dialogue and to maintaining good relations with Ivory Coast.
Mali has been embroiled in
jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group for a decade.
The release of the Ivorian soldiers is meant to both send a good faith signal
to Ivory Coast and show that the junta is in full control, while distracting
the public from the security crisis engulfing the nation, analysts say.
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