Malian lawmaker jailed for insulting Ivorian leader

A Malian lawmaker has been jailed in neighbouring Ivory Coast for three years for insulting the 84-year-old Ivorian leader, who recently won a fourth term in office, reports BBC News. Mamadou Hawa Gassama, who serves in the transitional Parliament set up by Mali's junta, was arrested last July while on a trip to Ivory Coast. Prosecutors said he described President Alassane Ouattara as a ‘tyrant’, ‘an enemy of Mali’ and strongly criticised his leadership in interviews and on social media. Since Mali's military took power in 2020, relations with Ivory Coast have been strained. Ouattara, an ally of France – the former colonial power in both nations – has been critical of the takeover and other coups in West Africa. Since the Malian politician's arrest in Abidjan last July, the authorities in Bamako have not commented on the case. ‘We believe that this decision is... excessive... it is very severe, AFP quotes Gassama's lawyer Mamadou Ismaila Konate as saying. Prosecutors argued that Gassama's remarks went beyond political critique, accusing him of deliberately seeking to undermine Ivorian institutions and sow discord between the two neighbours. It is a reminder of the diplomatic row that blew up two years after the coup, when 49 Ivorian soldiers were sentenced in Mali to 20 years in prison for undermining state security. Instead it has sought closer ties with Russia – and Russian mercenaries have been brought in to deal with the insecurity affecting several countries in the vast Sahel region.