The case of 49 Ivorian soldiers arrested in Mali takes a new turn. There is indeed a growing controversy about their status. The UN has even recently given its opinion on their mission. D’après l’organisation, ces militaires ne sont pas des forces de la Minusma, ni des agents de soutien nationaux de soutien. “The 49 Ivorian soldiers arrested on Sunday in Bamako are not national elements supporting the contingents of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA),” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq. “The Ivorian troops do not belong to the UNMIS forces,” he insisted.
However, he acknowledges that in 2019, the UN validated a request from Ivory Coast to deploy officers of this calibre, but without any follow-up. “A request from Ivory Coast to deploy national support elements was approved in 2019. However, no troops have been deployed under this agreement since then,” he said.
This contradicts Abidjan’s statement that the contingent held by Bamako “is indeed on an official mission in Mali as part of the operations of the UN peacekeeping mission (UNMISMA)”. The communiqué also stresses that “these soldiers are regularly registered in the Ivorian Army and were in Mali as part of the operations of the National Support Elements (NSE)”. As a result, the National Security Council held in Abidjan on Tuesday called on the Malian authorities to release “without delay” the 49 Ivorian soldiers “unjustly arrested” by Bamako.
On Monday evening, the Malian authorities described the soldiers as mercenaries and announced that they would be handed over to the relevant judicial authorities. Again on Thursday, Bamako decided to suspend all rotations of military and police contingents of the Minusma, including those already scheduled or announced, for reasons of national security.
At this rate, relations between Bamako and Abidjan are likely to deteriorate very quickly. For the time being, the UN organisation invites the two countries concerned to favour dialogue in order to find a way out of the situation. “We strongly encourage the two countries to work together to resolve the situation and allow the release of the detained troops,” concluded Farhan Haq.
