The president of Ivory Coast has welcomed home 46 troops jailed in Mali, saying he expects relations between the two nations may now resume normalcy.
They were sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court for damaging state security.
The Ivory Coast disputed the charge, claiming that they were sent to Mali as part of a UN operation to combat extremist Islamists.
Their arrest has sparked a diplomatic controversy between the two countries since their arrival in July 2022.
Mali's relations with the West African regional organisation, Ecowas, have been tense since the military conducted a coup in August 2020, deposing President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Ivory Coast is a member of Ecowas and is widely considered as one of the coup's harshest opponents.
Togo's President Faure Gnassingbé mediated the troops' release, and an Ivorian government delegation visited Mali to arrange their release.
Mr Ouattara met the soldiers when they landed at Abidjan International Airport on Saturday night.
He declared that the crisis in relations with the junta was now over.
"Now that this crisis is behind us, we can resume normal relations with the brother country of Mali, which needs us and which we also need," he said in a speech at the airfield.
The troops congratulated Ouattara, saying they were glad to "return to the motherland," according to AFP.
Mali's junta has been fortifying relations with Russia in an effort to combat militant Islamists who have wreaked devastation across the Sahel area.
As a result, its relations with Ecowas and Western nations have deteriorated.
France's President Emmanuel Macron formally terminated France's decade-long mission to combat Islamist terrorists in the Sahel in November 2022.
The United Kingdom has likewise confirmed the withdrawal of its soldiers from Mali.