Mali and Ivory Coast have been locked in a dispute since the beginning of the week when news broke of the arrest of 49 Ivorian soldiers at the airport in Mali’s capital Bamako.

Mali accused the soldiers of being illegally in their country, calling them mercenaries.

Ivory coast insisted the soldiers were part of a UN peacekeeping mission, which has been in Mali since 2013.

The mandate for the UN mission has been to support Malian authorities in their fight against Islamist militants and insecurity in the country.

So today Alan is speaking to Lalla Sy, the BBC’s reporter in Abidjan and finding out what’s going on between Mali and Ivory Coast.