Mali detains Ivorian soldiers, accuses them of being mercenaries

A police officer with the UN's Minusma mission in Timbuktu, Mali, December 2021. Malian authorities have arrested 49 Ivorian soldiers who came to work for a company contracted by Minusma, but who the government says did not have autorisation, so are considered mercenaries. © Florent Vergnes/AFP

Malian authorities have arrested 49 soldiers from Cote d’Ivoire, describing them as mercenaries who were planning to stop the protection and reform of the country.

Two planes arrived at Mali’s international airport Sunday with the 49 soldiers and “their weapons and ammunition of war, as well as other military equipment,” Malian government spokesperson Abdoulaye Maiga said in a statement read on state television on Monday.