Panafrican News Agency

Forty-nine Ivorian soldiers arrested at Bamako-Senou airport with arms and ammunition (statement)

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The Malian government said here Tuesday its defense and security forces had arrested 49 Ivorian soldiers aboard two aircraft from Cote d'Ivoire in possession of weapons and munitions of war as well as other military equipment.

A statement issued here said "on Sunday 10 July, 2022, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., two aircraft from Côte d'Ivoire landed at the Bamako International Airport with the 49 soldiers. 

"Thanks to the professionalism of the Malian Defence and Security Forces, it was established that the 49 Ivorian soldiers were illegally on the national territory of Mali.

"Consequently, they were immediately arrested and their arms, ammunition and equipment seized," the Malian minister in charge of territorial administration and spokesperson for the government said in a statement Monday.

According to the statement, it emerged that these soldiers, including about 30 from the special forces, were in possession of weapons and ammunition of war, without a mission order or authorization, and that the real profession of the soldiers was mostly concealed.

On the passports of the majority of the soldiers questioned, the professions listed were students, drivers, masons, mechanics, electricians, security guards, and painters, among others.

"Four different versions were put forward by the soldiers questioned to justify their presence on Malian territory, namely the confidential mission, the rotation within the framework of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), securing the logistical base of the airline "Sahelian Aviation Services" and the protection of the German contingent.

To find out more, officials from the Malian Defence and Security Forces immediately contacted their Ivorian counterparts, who denied knowledge of the presence of the Ivorian soldiers arrested in Mali.

The Malian government recalled that in either case of the versions put forward by the foreign soldiers questioned, the deployment of military personnel, as well as their weapons, was rigorously regulated by procedures that were not respected.

In addition, when questioned by the Malian authorities, MINUSMA indicated that it had no planned rotation on 10 July 2022, the statement added.

The Malian government, after an analysis of the facts and without prejudging the outcome of this case by the judicial authorities, has noted failures and offences, including the failure to inform the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, through official channels, about a deployment of Ivorian soldiers.

It also noted that the arrival of the soldiers was in flagrant violation of the provisions of Article 38 of the Malian Penal Code criminalizing attacks on the external security of the State, including the attack on the integrity of the territory.

According to the statement, these offences also concern the violation of civil aviation legislation which stipulates, among other things, that all flights are obliged to produce a passenger manifest and a cargo manifest before take-off and that the manifest must show the identification of all passengers on each flight.

"In view of these failures and infractions committed in the context of the deployment of these 49 Ivorian soldiers, the Malian government considers them to be mercenaries, as defined by the OAU Convention on the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa." 

The statement said "the malicious intent of those arrested was clearly to break the momentum of the Refoundation and the securing of Mali, as well as the return to constitutional order".

In response to this incident, "the Malian government has decided to put an end, with immediate effect, to the protection of the airline 'Sahelian Aviation Services' by foreign forces and to demand their immediate departure from Malian territory". 

The Malian government has invited Sahelian Aviation Services to entrust its security to the Malian defence and security forces from now on, to hand over  this case to the competent judicial authorities and to make the 49 Ivorian soldiers arrested available to the competent judicial authorities.

The Malian government, concerned about the preservation of the age-old relations between the Malian and Ivorian people, expressed its solidarity with the Ivorian authorities, who are certainly disturbed by the illegal presence of Ivorian soldiers in Mali.

Ivorian troops are in Mali "without the knowledge or valid authorization" of the Ivorian authorities.

The statement also said that the government was "counting on cooperation with the sister republic of Côte d'Ivoire, so that all light can be shed on this affair".

-0- PANA GT/JSG/SOC/BBA/RA 12July2022