Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Friday hinted at a possible breakthrough in a bitter dispute with Mali, which has held 46 Ivorian soldiers for three months and branded them mercenaries.

"Things are moving along well... we think we will probably have a positive outcome very swiftly," Ouattara said after meeting President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau, whose country chairs the West African bloc ECOWAS.

On Thursday, Ouattara met Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, who is mediating in the nearly three-month quarrel.

The Ivorian troops were arrested on July 10 on their arrival at the airport at Bamako, Mali's capital.

Ivory Coast says the troops were sent to provide backup for the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, and are being unfairly detained.

Mali says the troops are mercenaries and has placed them in custody on charges of attempting to harm state security.

Tensions rose last month when junta chief Colonel Assimi Goita implied their release could hinge on the extradition of several Malians living in Ivory Coast.

Last week, ECOWAS -- the Economic Community of West African States -- sent a high-level mission for talks with him.

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