BAMAKO (Reuters) -Mali’s transitional government has pardoned 49 Ivorian soldiers arrested in July and accused of conspiring against the Malian government, the presidency said in a statement on Friday.
The soldiers’ arrest sparked a diplomatic dispute between Mali and neighbouring Ivory Coast, as well as widespread condemnation from regional allies.
The soldiers were arrested at the airport in Mali’s capital Bamako in July, but three were later released.
The remaining 46 were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on Dec. 30 for attempting to undermine state security, while the three others were sentenced to death in absentia.
“The transitional president Colonel Assimi Goita has granted pardon and fully revoked the sentences of the 49 Ivorian [soldiers],” government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga said in a statement read on national television.
Mali’s ruling junta said the soldiers were acting as mercenaries, while Ivory Coast said they were part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
(Reporting by Tiemoko DialloWriting by Sofia ChristensenEditing by Leslie Adler and Josie Kao)
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