Mali Coup: Soldiers consider transitional govt to organise fresh elections
Malian soldiers who
launched a military coup to oust President Ibrahim Keita out of government said
on Wednesday they plan to form a civilian transitional government that will
organise fresh elections, Reuters reports.
Mr Keita, alongside
Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, was forced to relinquish his seat and dissolve the
parliament at gunpoint by mutineering soldiers, hours after being detained.
In the wee hours of
Wednesday, the ousted Malian President announced his resignation on a live
television broadcast.
“I’ve decided to
leave my post,” he said, clad in traditional clothing and a medical mask to
protect against the coronavirus.
In another broadcast
on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the mutineers, who called themselves the
National Committee for the Salvation of the People, said they had decided to
stage the coup to prevent Mali from falling further into chaos.
For months now, Mali
has been mired in a political stalemate after the opposition rejected results
of local elections held earlier this year and called for Mr Keita’s resignation
for perceived government corruption and incompetence in countering terrorism in
the country.
Tensions escalated
in July when at least 11 people were killed during three days of unrest
following a protest, an Al Jazeera report said.
The opposition group
rejected attempts at mediation with the president, and vowed to continue staging
rallies against him despite international mediation efforts to resolve the
political crisis.
In July, Nigeria’s
former president, Goodluck Jonathan led a delegation of the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders to broker peace in the country.
The committee
recommended a unity government for the troubled country, yet the crisis
persisted, leading to a mutiny on Tuesday.
Some believe Mali’s
eight-year insurgency is contributing to current political tensions in the
country, with Mr Keita under pressure to stop the fighting.
The government has
been struggling to contain the insurgency that first broke out in 2012, and has
claimed thousands of lives since.
Hand-over plan
The mutineers’
spokesperson, Ismael Wague, maintained the coup was necessitated by the recent
political crisis that seems to be plunging the West African state further into
chaos.
“Our country is
sinking into chaos, anarchy and insecurity mostly due to the fault of the
people who are in charge of its destiny,” he said, flanked by soldiers.
Mr Wague invited
Mali’s civil society and political movements to join them to create conditions
for a political transition that would lead to elections.
The military coup
has been condemned by Mali’s regional and international partners who fear it
could further destabilise the former French colony.
The United Nations,
European Union, African Union Commission, and the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) have also condemned the military’s actions.
The UN has called
for the “immediate release” of the president, while the EU said it “condemns
the coup attempt under way in Mali and rejects any anti-constitutional change.”
“This can in no way
be a response to the deep socio-political crisis that has hit Mali for several
months,” the EU said in a statement.
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