By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Leaders in the West African sub-region on Sunday gave authorities in Mali until January 1, 2023 to release 46 Ivorian troops it has held for months or face sanctions.
“We ask the Malian authorities to release the Ivorian soldiers by January 1, 2023 at the latest,” Omar Alieu Touray, President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) commission, told journalists at a summit in Nigeria.
Gambian diplomat Touray also said the West African bloc will take certain measures if the Malian ruling junta does not free the soldiers.
If Mali fails to do so, ECOWAS will impose sanctions, a West African diplomat told AFP.
Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, who has been mediating between Mali and Ivory Coast on the issue, will travel to Mali to “demand” the release of the soldiers, the diplomat added.
The Ivorian troops were arrested on July 10 on their arrival at the airport in Mali’s capital Bamako.
Ivory Coast says the troops were sent to provide backup for the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, and are being unfairly detained.
Mali says the troops are mercenaries and has placed them in custody on charges of attempting to harm state security.
The heads of the ECOWAS member states and their representatives, held talks in the central Nigerian city of Abuja.
ECOWAS had decided at an extraordinary summit in September to send a high-level delegation to Mali to try to resolve the crisis. But no progress was reported from this mission.
