Belarusian Pilots Detained In Ivory Coast :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarusian diplomatic apparatus informed that the state bodies had not sent Belarusian citizens to this African country. However, four Belarusian citizens say that they are in Ivory Coast, and they were detained by the French Foreign Legion soldiers. The pilot in command told that he has an Ivorian-Belarusian intergovernmental agreement on military assistance, and they work on the basis of this document.

At the regular briefing in the Foreign Ministry its press secretary Andrei Savinykh answered to the question of Radio Svaboda, if evacuation of Belarusian citizens is carried out from Ivory Coast, where war conflict continues. As said by Mr. Savinykh, FM is checking information of the media with reference to Defence Ministry of France, on possible involvement of the Belarusian citizens in this conflict. He added that today one could say with confidence only one thing: “Belarusian citizens were not directed to Ivory Coast by any state bodies”.

However, Radio Savboda managed to get in touch with the 15 mechanics, about whichColonel Coret from Ivorian Defence Ministry told before. As it turned out, among them were 3 Russians, 8 Ukrainians and 4 Belarusians. Plane An-12, which was to transport foodstuffs inside Ivory Coast, and at which these 15 people worked, was not destroyed. In is now in the airport of Abidjan. Captive pilots from the CIS said that they are eating the goods at their plane. The pilot in command, Mikhail, Russian citizen, refused to say his name, but he told:

“We came rather log ago, we work on contract here. Our plane is a transport one, and we can transfer any goods customers need”.

Mikhail decided to ignore the question if there were military goods among them. But he commented the statement of Belarusian FM that no Belarusian citizens were sent to Ivory Coast by the state:

“How could it be that nobody was sent, if I have documents in my case: intergovernmental agreement between Ivory Coast and Belarus on military assistance in military equipment maintenance…”

On Thursday Colonel Coret from the Defence Ministry of Ivory Coast confirmed to Radio Svaboda that these 15 persons had a contract with Ivorian army and provided service for military planes.