Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned on Tuesday after being detained by a military junta that pledged to shepherd a democratic transition.
Keita’s departure capped weeks of protests demanding that he step down.
The 75-year-old leader has faced criticism for alleged corruption and nepotism, and the mishandling of an escalating militant insurgency in the West African nation.
Photo AFP
Keita appeared on national television on Tuesday to announce that he was dissolving his Cabinet and the parliament, and complying with soldiers’ demands that he quit.
“I do not want a single drop of blood to be shed to keep me in office,” Keita said.
Hours later, Malian Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Ismael Wague announced that the “National Committee for the Salvation of the People” had taken charge of the country.
He appealed to civil society and political groups to help prepare for elections, without providing a time line for when a vote would be held.
“The fight against corruption and good governance remains at the heart of what we seek,” Wague said. “To prevent the country from sliding into chaos, we will be responsible for the provision of social services.”
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) condemned Keita’s overthrow and called for the regional bloc’s forces to be on standby. It also sealed off Mali’s borders and suspended all trade.
French President Emmanuel Macron held talks about the crisis with his Nigerian, Ivorian and Senegalese counterparts, and said he supported an ECOWAS mediation.
The regional bloc has intervened militarily in the past, sending troops to Gambia in 2017 to help end a political crisis in that country.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Keita’s overthrow, while African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said the continental body opposed the use of force to resolve the country’s political crisis.
The situation is reminiscent of the 2012 ouster of Keita’s predecessor, former Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure, by junior officers angry about the lack of resources needed to fight Tuareg rebels in the north.
The subsequent power vacuum was exploited by militant groups who seized control of large parts of the north.
A French military intervention pushed back the insurgents, but some groups later returned, carrying out attacks on civilians and about 15,000 UN peacekeepers in the country.
“The international community will be perturbed by the mutiny,” Alexandre Raymakers, senior Africa analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, said in a research note.
“France will fear it will worsen the ongoing political crisis, creating a major political vacuum, and derail efforts to contain the growing insurgency,” Raymakers said before Keita was seized by the soldiers.
Wague asked regional and international partners, including foreign military missions, to cooperate with the transitional committee, saying all agreements would be respected.
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