Mali expels UN peacekeeping mission spokesman for Twitter posts

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Mali’s military government announced Wednesday the expulsion of a UN peacekeeping mission spokesman for posts he made on Twitter following a diplomatic incident with the Ivory Coast.

Olivier Salgado, from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), was given 72 hours to leave the country, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“This measure [expulsion] follows the series of tendentious and unacceptable publications of the person concerned on the social network Twitter declaring, without any evidence, that the Malian authorities were previously informed of the arrival of the 49 Ivorian soldiers by civilian flight, at the president Modibo Keita International Airport,” said the statement.

The announcement came one day after Mali’s public prosecution said it opened investigations into the 49 Ivorian soldiers arrested on July 10.

Salgado was asked to provide proof of the statements in his tweets but he failed, according to the ministry.

“The ministry cannot ignore these actions, which undermine the partnership with MINUSMA and other partners,” it said.

Mali suspended all new rotations of the MINUSMA peacekeeping mission last week, including those already scheduled, citing “national security” reasons.

The arrest of the Ivorian soldiers has created tensions between Mali and Ivory Coast, which believes its soldiers were arrested “unjustly.”

The Ivory Coast’s president’s office last week demanded the immediate release of the soldiers, saying they were part of its logistical contingent to support its troops deployed under MINUSMA.

The Ivory Coast also dismissed claims by the Malian authorities that its soldiers were in possession of weapons and ammunition of war at the time of the arrests.

Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey announced Monday that Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe accepted the proposal by the Malian authorities to broker efforts between Mali and Ivory Coast with a view to the release of the soldiers.

Dussey, who met with Malian transition leader Col. Assimi Goïta in the capital Bamako, met Tuesday with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan to discuss the soldiers detained in Mali.​​​​​​​