Bamako — Mali’s army authorities has referred to as Ivory Coast’s request for a regional assembly on Ivorian troops detained in Mali since July “intimidation” and “blackmail.” Ivory Coast accuses Mali of holding its troops hostage.

The Mali authorities’s official assertion says that it’s “under no circumstances involved by” Ivory Coast’s request to carry a gathering with regional bloc ECOWAS over the detained troops.

The assertion was learn on state tv station ORTM by authorities spokesperson and interim Prime Minister Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, and posted to the station’s Fb web page.

Maiga stated the transitional authorities, whereas reiterating its attachment to peace, safety and age-old good neighborly relations, specifies that for the respect of its sovereignty, its nationwide safety, and the pursuits of its folks, it should yield to neither blackmail nor intimidation.

Ivory Coast’s Nationwide Safety Council printed an announcement Wednesday requesting an ECOWAS assembly and accusing Mali of taking the troopers hostage.

The 49 troopers from Ivory Coast arrived on the Bamako airport in July as assist for a U.N. contingent. Mali arrested the troopers, accusing them of being “mercenaries.”

Olivier Salgado, former spokesperson for the U.N. mission to Mali, MINUSMA, was expelled from the nation after he tweeted that the U.N. had notified Mali of the troopers’ arrival.

Mali’s army authorities maintained in Thursday’s assertion that the troops “arrived in Mali in possession of weapons and munitions of battle, with out a mission order or authorization, whereas concealing their identities and their actual professions in addition to the exact goal of their presence on Malian soil.”

Three feminine troopers have been freed earlier this month, leaving 46 troops nonetheless in custody.

Malian interim President Assimi Goita stated final week that Malian political figures fleeing persecution by the army authorities have been given asylum in Ivory Coast, and that he was searching for a “mutually helpful” answer to the diplomatic disaster.

Tensions between Mali and ECOWAS have been excessive this 12 months, with ECOWAS imposing sanctions on Mali in January over an election delay. Sanctions have been lifted in July when Mali set an election date for 2024.

France backed the sanctions, and in August withdrew all of its troops after nearly a decade over issues that Mali is working with Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group.