There was a 20-member crew on the tanker, which has been operating in the West African zone for the past 60 days.
![A ship passes near the port of Abidjan, April 23, 2013 [Thierry Gouegnon/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2013-05-29T120000Z_619571620_GM1E95T1L0901_RTRMADP_3_WESTAFRICA-PIRACY.jpg?resize=570%2C380&quality=80)
In Ivory Coast, people living with leprosy say they often face social exclusion. Some now live together in a commune.
Return of 46 soldiers signals resolution of a bitter diplomatic standoff between the Ivory Coast and Mali.
The mass pardoning comes one week after Mali sentenced 46 of the jailed Ivorian soldiers to 20 years in prison.
The Ivorian troops were arrested at the Bamako airport on July 10, with the Malians accusing them of being mercenaries.
A court in the West African country has jailed the soldiers for conspiring against the government.
The men were convicted of abetting an armed group’s attack on a beach resort that killed 19 people in Grand-Bassam.
Ivory Coast is the world’s top cocoa-producing country but receives just 4% of the $100bn chocolate industry’s profits.
A recap of top issues in West Africa in 2022, including heated political campaigns and armed groups gaining ground.
Former right-hand man to the ex-president was a key figure in post-electoral violence that swept the country in 2010-11.
Ivory Coast is embroiled in a diplomatic fight with Mali over the continued detention of 46 of its soldiers since July.
The football training programme is being supported by UNESCO and has piloted in three countries including Ivory Coast.
If Cameroon and Nigeria join, the initiative will represent about two-thirds of global cocoa production.
He is the only Black lawmaker in the lower chamber of 400 deputies and one of a handful ever elected in Italy’s history.
