49 Ivory Coast soldiers pardoned by Mali’s junta leader

By BABA AHMED and TOUSSAINT N’GOTTA
Associated Press

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The leader of Mali’s military junta has pardoned 49 soldiers from neighboring Ivory Coast who were convicted of undermining Mali’s state security and conspiracy against the government. In a statement Friday, the junta’s spokesman said junta leader, Col. Assimi Goita, granted the pardon and “demonstrates once again his commitment to peace, dialogue, pan-Africanism, and the preservation of fraternal and secular relations with the countries of the region, in particular those between Mali and Ivory Coast.” The pardon comes one week after 46 of the soldiers were sentenced to 20 years in prison. Three female defendants who had been released in September were tried in absentia and sentenced to death.