Mali coup: President, Prime Minister arrested by soldiers after mutiny
Malian President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta
- US, AU, ECOWAS condemn crisis
- Jonathan briefs Buhari in Abuja
The Malian President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and Prime Minister, Boubou Cissé, were arrested by soldiers late Tuesday in Bamako, a few hours after the start of a mutiny at a military base in Kati.
Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) was in the company of the Prime Minister, Boubou Cissé, and his son, Deputy Karim Keïta at his Sebenikoro residence in Bamako when he was arrested by soldiers at around 4:30 p.m. local time, according to several government and diplomatic sources.
IBK and his Prime Minister were taken to a base in Kati, 15km north of Bamako
The Minister of Defence, Ibrahima Dahirou Dembélé, and several high-ranking officials are also in the hands of the mutineers and have been taken to the Kati camp.
Ecowas and the French presidency say they are monitoring the situation closely.
Earlier in the day, the French President spoke with his Malian counterpart to take stock of the situation.
President Emmanuel Macron had also met with several Heads of State of the sub-region: Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire, Macky Sall of Senegal and Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, who is currently the current Chairman of ECOWAS, with whom Paris wishes to coordinate its action.
It will be recalled that Mali has been going through political crisis since its bgeneral election in 2018.
With this mutiny, there is strong indication that the efforts made by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediator, former President Goodluck Jonathan to bring Keita and leaders of the opposition movement for talks have failed.
It will also be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday received an update from Johathan on the political situation in Mali.
Jonathan, who was in Mali from Monday to Thursday last week as ECOWAS special envoy, briefed Buhari on his meeting with the stakeholders in Mali.
However, Jonathan said, the main opposition continued to insist on the resignation of Keita, a position not acceptable to ECOWAS, which also insisted that only the democratic process in the change of power within its jurisdiction.
Jonathan said: “We told them that no international organization, including the African Union(AU), United Nations (UN) and others, would agree with their position. We continued to emphasise the need for dialogue.”
President Buhari thanked Jonathan for what he tagged “the stamina you have displayed” on the Mali issue and called for further consultations with the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic.
Meanwhile, US, AU, ECOWAS have condemned the crisis.
