An Ivorian politician detained in Mali

A prominent Ivorian politician who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia has been detained in Bamako, the capital of Mali, his party and a Malian security source announced on Wednesday.

Mohamed Sess Soukou, also known as Ben Souck, “was arrested in the streets of Bamako by four men in civilian clothes wearing balaclavas,” his GPS party said in a statement.

“Under the armed threat, Mr. Sess was forced to get into a 4×4 with tinted windows and no license plates. He has been missing since,” he said.

The arrest took place on Tuesday, the statement said.

A Malian security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Ben Souck has been detained for investigation. I cannot say more at the moment. He is fine and all his rights are being respected.”

A Malian judicial source said Côte d’Ivoire had filed an arrest warrant against him.

Sess is a former deputy and mayor of the city of Dabou, near Abidjan, the economic hub of Côte d’Ivoire.

He is the head of the Générations et Peuples Solidaires party (GPS) founded by former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, who was once a close ally of Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara but fell out with him in early 2019 and went into exile.

In June, Soro was sentenced to life in absentia for instigating a “civil and military insurgency” as he attempted to return home in December 2019.

Among the other defendants at trial, Sess was sentenced in absentia to 20 years for endangering state security. The dissolution of the GPS party has been ordered.

“We don’t know what they are accusing him of,” said an ally of Sess, adding that his supporters were hiring a lawyer.

Soro, 49, was a rebel leader whose forces controlled northern Côte d’Ivoire in the first decade of the century, during the eventful presidency of Ouattara’s predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo.

It was Soro’s military aid that tipped the situation in Ouattara’s favor when the conflict erupted after Gbagbo refused to accept electoral defeat in October 2010 and was forced to resign.

Soro was rewarded with the appointment as Ouattara’s first prime minister, then rose to the post of President of the National Assembly in 2012, a post he held until he and Ouattara fell out in 2019.