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On Tuesday (January 24), Ivory Coast awarded its top prize to 49 soldiers whose detention by Mali sparked a bitter diplomatic dispute between the two West African countries.
Troops were arrested at Bamako airport in July.
Mali accused them of being mercenaries, but Côte d’Ivoire and the United Nations said they were flown in to provide regular back-up security to German contingents on UN peacekeeping missions.
On December 30, a court in Bamako sentenced 46 soldiers to 20 years in prison and three female soldiers who were released were sentenced to death in absentia.
On January 6, all 49 were pardoned by junta leader Asimi Goyta.
At a ceremony on Tuesday, the 49 were named knights of the Order of the Republic. This is his lowest of three tiers of the highest award for service to the nation.
They were one of 852 military personnel deployed in the UN’s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission.
Armed Forces Chief Lashina Doumbia praised their work as “contributing to ensuring border security”.
He described the controversy over the detained troops as an “unfortunate episode” without elaborating.
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