Malian authorities arrested nearly 50 soldiers from Ivory Coast who came to Mali to work for a contracting company of the United Nations mission in Mali.
The government made the announcement yesterday calling the Ivorian soldiers “mercenaries,” in a move that could raise tensions between the two West African countries.
Two aircraft arrived at Mali’s international airport Sunday with the 49 soldiers “with their weapons and ammunition of war, as well as other military equipment,” said Malian government spokesman Col. Abdoulaye Maiga.
They “were illegally on the national territory of Mali,” and the transitional government considers them mercenaries, he added.
