A Malian judicial source said a Bamako prosecutor on Friday charged the soldiers, who have been detained for more than a month, and remanded them in custody.

Another source close to the judge and an official at Mali's justice ministry confirmed the news to AFP.

Ivory Coast has denied the accusation and demanded the troops be released, saying they were reinforcements to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA.

Negotiations have started to free the soldiers, with Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe acting as a mediator.

A source close to the talks said they had made some progress but stalled over "certain points", explaining the use of legal mechanisms in the affair.

"Justice will continue its work, but the negotiations will also continue," the source said.

The arrest of the soldiers after their arrival at Bamako airport on July 10 has sparked a diplomatic crisis between military-ruled Mali and its West African neighbour.

The junta has accused Ivory Coast of encouraging regional partners to impose harsh sanctions on Mali that were lifted in July.

Mali has been dominated by the military since an August 2020 coup ousted elected leader Ibrahim Boubacar Keita following mass protests over the handling of a long-running and bloody jihadist insurgency.

MINSUMA is one of the forces in the Sahel state to help it fight rebels linked with A/harl-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which began their operations in 2012 and have spread their influence across northern and central Mali.