Malian singer detained in Belgium in child custody row

One of Africa’s best known musicians – the Malian singer Rokia Traoré – has reportedly been imprisoned in Belgium as part of an ongoing child custody dispute.

The 50-year-old is being held after being extradited from Italy, over an outstanding two-year prison sentence, according to the AFP news agency.

The long-running saga dates back to 2020 when Traoré was initially detained in France on a Belgian arrest warrant after failing to heed a court order to hand over her daughter to the girl’s Belgian father.

Months after she was conditionally released, Traoré flew out to Mali on a private flight, defying a ban from leaving France until her extradition to Belgium.

Last October, Traoré was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison by a court in Belgium on charges of parental abduction for “failing to hand over a child to the person entitled to custody”.

In June, Traoré’s was arrested at Fiumicino airport in Rome as she flew in for a concert, over the outstanding child custody conviction, for which there was a European arrest warrant. Two months later, a court in the Italian capital approved her extradition.

An appeal by the singer was rejected last week, paving the way for the extradition to take place. Traoré has been held in prison since her arrest, the Reuters news agency reported.

Her daughter, who is now aged nine years, has lived in Mali since turning four.

A lawyer for the child’s father, Traoré’s former partner Jan Goossens, reportedly said he had not had any contact with his daughter since then.

When she was initially arrested in 2020, she had been travelling from Mali to Brussels intending to appeal against the custody ruling, her lawyers had said.

Mali’s government previously came out in support of the singer, saying that she had a diplomatic passport.

Traoré’s lawyer, Vincent Lurquin, is reported to have told AFP that the singer plans to appeal the two-year prison sentence, which would trigger a new trial.

He also said both Traoré and Goossens were hoping to “find an agreement in the interests of the child”, thus averting a new prison sentence.

AFP reported that the state prosecutor’s office in Belgium confirmed that Traoré would remain in detention throughout the new trial.

Traoré is one of Africa’s best known vocalists. She has won several awards, including the BBC Award for World Music in 2004 and the 2009 World Music Album of the year in the Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of the Grammys.

She is also known for her advocacy work for refugees, becoming a goodwill ambassador for the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees in 2015 in West and Central Africa.

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