Questioned by his people for months, the President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was deposed on Tuesday for a coup after a military coup in a new crisis in this African country ravaged by jihadist violence.
In a televised statement early Wednesday morning, President Keita, who had been detained a few hours before by the military, announced his resignation, the dissolution of the government and Parliament.
“At this precise moment I would like, while I thank the Malian people for their accompaniment throughout these long years and their warm affection, to announce my decision to abandon my functions, all my functions from this moment,” Keita said in an address broadcast by the national television ORTM, and “all the consequences that arise: the dissolution of the National Assembly and that of the government,” he said.
“Military coup plotters”
The West African regional organization, Cedeao, it condemned the action of the “military coup plotters” and adopted a series of immediate measures to isolate Mali.
The coup also sparked protests from the countries of the African Union, UN, United States, European Union and France, which has 5,100 soldiers deployed in the Sahel, particularly in Mali, in the framework of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane.
The rebellion broke out Tuesday morning at the Kati military barracks near Bamako.
Soldiers joined the protesters who have been demanding the resignation of the president for months, before arresting him along with his primer ministro Boubou Cissé.
“We can tell them that the president and the prime minister are under our control. We detained them at their house ”(at the residence of the head of state in Bamako), one of the leaders of the rebellion told AFP, who requested anonymity.
The communication director of the head of government, Boubou Doucouré, confirmed that the president and the prime minister “were taken by the mutinous military in armored vehicles to Kati”, where the Sundiata Keita camp is located, about 15 km from Bamako, the capital.
Acclaimed
In Bamako They were hailed by protesters gathered to demand the departure of the head of state in the vicinity of the Independence Square, the epicenter of the protests that affected Mali several months ago, before heading towards the residence of President Keita, according to the same source.
Shortly before the announcement of Keita’s resignation, Cedeao had condemned the coup. The regional organization “condemns in the strongest terms the removal by the coup military of the democratically elected government of President Boubacar Keita,” according to a statement.
The Cedeao “categorically denies any form of legitimacy of the coup plotters and demands the immediate reestablishment of constitutional order,” the statement states, which “demands the immediate release” of the deposed president and “all the detained officers.”
The regional organization, made up of 15 member countries, including Mali, decided to suspend this country from the institution’s decision-making bodies and demanded “the immediate establishment of a set of sanctions against all coup leaders,” in addition to decreeing the closure of land and air borders with this country.
On Thursday, a videoconference of the Cedeao heads of state is scheduled to analyze the “situation” in the country, announced the presidency of Niger, which is currently chairing this body.
He Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, He had also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the President of Mali.
The crisis in Mali will be addressed on Wednesday at a closed-door emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, requested by France and Niger.
French President Emmanuel Macron for his part gave “his full support” to the ongoing mediation efforts of the West African states.
For the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, “this cannot in any case be a response to the deep socio-political crisis” that is shaking the country.
Months of crisis
Mali faces a serious socio-political crisis that worries the international community.
A heteroclite coalition of political opponents, religious leaders and members of civil society increase the demonstrations to demand the departure of President Keita, accused of mismanagement.
Added to that is a difficult “social situation”, according to trade union leader Sidibé Dedeu Ousman.
The Movement of June 5-Meeting of Patriotic Forces of Mali (M5-RFP), which is leading the protests, rejected on Thursday an interview with Keita, putting as a precondition the “end of repression” against his militants.
On the weekend of July 10, a demonstration called by the June 5 Movement degenerated into three days of bloody riots.
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