Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé traveled to Bamako on Wednesday to meet with the leader of Mali’s military junta, Assimi Goita, in an attempt to calm the situation after 46 soldiers from neighboring Ivory Coast who were arrested at the Malian capital’s airport were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
«I thank Colonel Assimi Goita, President of the Transition and the people of Mali for the warm welcome received today in Bamako. We will discuss bilateral cooperation and issues of common interest, including peace, security and regional integration,» he explained in a message on the social network Twitter.
Gnassingbé made no statements to the press and, according to witnesses, quickly boarded a vehicle with Goita in the direction of Koulouba, the seat of the presidential palace in Bamako, as reported by Radio Internationale, which points to a possible rapprochement between the parties to achieve a presidential pardon for the soldiers.
Togo has acted as a sort of intermediary in the conflict between Bamako and Yamoussoukro. Its foreign minister, Robert Dussey, reported in September the release of three of the 49 soldiers who were held by the Malian military forces.
The Malian judiciary, in addition to sentencing the 46 soldiers to a 20-year prison term, sentenced – for the same offenses, but in absentia – the three Ivorian soldiers released in September to the death penalty.
The 49 Ivorian soldiers were convicted of the crimes of attacking the government, attacking the security of the state and transporting arms or ammunition with the aim of «disturbing public order».
Ivory Coast assured that the soldiers were in Mali «as part of the logistics operations of the national support elements» to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
For his part, MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado said that the detained soldiers «were not part of one of the MINUSMA contingents.» «These soldiers have been deployed for years in Mali as part of a logistical support on behalf of one of our contingents,» he stressed.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
