Mali demands compensation for release of Ivorian soldiers

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Interim Malian President Assimi Goita wants a mutually beneficial solution to end a diplomatic row over 46 Ivorian soldiers who were detained in Mali. Goita noted that the Ivory Coast had given asylum to political figures wanted by the Malian junta, state television said on Saturday.

The Ivorian soldiers were held in Mali's international airport in Bamako on July 10, with the authorities accusing them of flying in without permission and were seen as mercenaries.

The Ivory Coast had requested their release several times, saying the soldiers had been deployed as part of a security and logistics support contract signed with the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali.

In mid-August, the last soldiers from France's Barkhane operation in Mali left the African country as per the French chiefs of staff.

Two days after withdrawal, Mali demanded an emergency UN Security Council meeting to make an end to what it calls French "acts of aggression", including claimed espionage and violations of sovereignty.

At its peak, France's Barkhane mission included 5,100 troops from five former French colonies in the Sahel region: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger.

Goita "has made it clear that at a time when Ivory Coast is requesting the release of its soldiers, it continues to serve as a political asylum for certain Malian political figures who are the subject of an international arrest warrant," the state broadcaster said.

The junta came to power in a coup two years ago that ousted former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. His son, Kaim, is in Ivory Coast with former ministers Tieman Huber Coulibaly and Igor Diarra.

Goita would like a mutually beneficial solution to the stand-off over the soldiers "as opposed to a one-way solution that consists of acceding to the Ivorian demands without any compensation for Mali," the television channel said.