Mali: the transitional president and the prime minister dismissed

Mali has suffered three army-orchestrated coups in the past nine years, the last of them last night, when the provisional president, Bah Ndaw, and his prime minister, Moctar Ouané, were arrested.

The arrest of Ndaw and Ouané took place a few hours after learning about the composition of the new government, something that would have caused the dissatisfaction of the military after the exclusion of two of its protagonists who had led the previous coup of August 18 against the then Malian president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK).

The military coup comes at a delicate time in Mali, which is currently experiencing a national strike called by the National Union of Workers, the most important trade union center in the country, and suffers from great insecurity in the north and center due to jihadist activity.

PRESIDENT’S DEPOSITION

The Transitional Vice-President of Mali, Colonel Assimi Goita, announced today that he had dismissed his superior, President Bah Ndaw, as well as Prime Minister Moctar Ouané, before assuring that “the transition process follows its normal course” and that there will be elections in 2022.

In a statement released today in Bamako and read on national television, Goita, who led the previous coup in August 2020, He did not specify how the head of state is now, although he wanted to give a feeling of normalcy by calling on the Malian people to “freely continue their occupations”.

Goita insisted on The “unwavering commitment” of the Malian armed forces to defending the security of the country, but did not give details on the fate of the detainees or the immediate plans of the coup plotters.

After several hours since the arrest of Ndaw and Ouané, the press release from Vice-President Goita explains that the reasons for this action are explained by a “Crisis lasting several months at the national level”, alluding to strikes and various demonstrations called in the country by social and political actors.

The arrest of Ndaw and Ouané came a few hours after the composition of the new government formed by the Prime Minister, According to various sources, this caused embarrassment among the leaders of the military coup due to the exclusion of two military commanders.

2020 BLOW

The soldiers who took power yesterday are the same people who overthrew President Boubacar Keita on August 18, 2020, dissolved Parliament and created a “National Committee for the Salvation of the People” to lead a transition process that had not yet been concluded.

This military coup, led by Colonels Sadiou Camara and Malick Diaw, it happened without any bloodshedThe bulk of the armed forces having quickly sided with the putschists, the population also seemed to welcome it, putting an end to several months of imposing anti-government demonstrations.

2012, COUP AND WAR

March 22, 2012 a military unit led by Captain Amadou Sanogo attacked the presidential palace in Bamako causing the overthrow of the then president, Amadou Toumani Touré, and after a year of transition, the country has regained its constitutional order.

This coup also triggered a secession proclamation from Azawad (the north-eastern third of the country) by the Tuareg movements; In this unrecognized state, several jihadist-inspired groups emerged which unleashed an all-out war against the state and which are still very active today.

(With information from EFE)

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