46 ivory coast troops have returned home after six months of captivity in Mali for the accusation of being mercenaries.
Ivory coast denied the accusation and said that they were sent to provide routine backup security for the German contingent on the peace-keeping mission of the United Nations, but they were not able to escape.
After receiving a pardon from Mali’s Militar ruler, the troops finally got home arriving at Ivory Coast Abidjan airport on Saturday.
Having sight of their homeland, each soldier held a small Ivorian flag with a wide smile on their face as President Alassane Ouattara greet them at the airport.
“Now that this crisis is behind us, we can resume normal relations with the brother country of Mali,” President Alassane Ouattara said.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the soldiers thanked President Ouattara and the Ivorian people for their support, he added, “we are happy and relieved to return to the motherland”.
Before the release, 49 soldiers had been captivated, however, three women had been sentenced to death in absentia. The release of the remaining 46 soldiers was after the court of Bamako sentenced them to 20 years of imprisonment on the charges of conspiracy against the Mali government.
It can be remembered that their arrest in July stir up an intense diplomatic fight between neighboring countries.
