New assassination attempt: Mali interim president attacked with knife amid Muslim celebration of sacrifice

Two people attempted to stab the acting president of Mali, Colonel Assimi Goita, during the celebration of the Muslim ritual of Eid al Adha, celebration of the Sacrifice, in the Great Mosque of Bamako.

President Goita was evacuated and he didn’t look hurt, AFP confirmed. “It is after the prayer and the sermon of the imam, when the imam was about to sacrifice the lamb, that the young man tried to stab Assimi (Goita) in the backBut another person was injured, ”confirmed to AFP Latus Touré, administrator of the Great Mosque.

Asked by AFP on whether the act could be qualified as an “assassination attempt”, the president’s services replied that “Yes quite”.

“We are investigating. At least one person attempted to attack him today with a knife at the Grand Mosque in Bamako.”added the same source, who said “the president is safe and sound”.

Present at the scene, the Minister of Religious Affairs, Mamadou Koné, told AFP that a “man tried to kill the interim president with a knife in the great mosque of Bamako”. “But he was reduced before he committed his crime”he added.

“It was after the prayer and the sermon, when the imam was about to sacrifice the lamb, that the young man tried to stab Assimi (Goita) in the back, but another person was injured“, Confirmed to AFP Latus Touré, administrator of the great mosque.

Mali is fighting to contain a jihadist insurgency that first emerged in the north of the country in 2012 and has since spread to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians lost their lives and hundreds of thousands fled their homes. The conflict has also resulted in political instability in the capital.

Mali has been the scene of two coups d’état in less than a year, in August 2020 and in May, at the hands of the same military officials. Colonel Assimi Goita took control of the country as interim president, after the arrest of the then president and prime minister, Bah Ndaw and Moctar Ouane, respectively, less than a year after another coup. State in August against Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. This former special forces battalion commander has not moved for nine months without the company of his hooded men armed with assault rifles.

The trigger for the new crisis was Ouane’s resignation amid further opposition protests, after which Ndaw re-elected him to this post. Thus, on May 24, he revealed the composition of the new government, with soldiers in the main portfolios but without important personalities of the junta set up after the coup against Keita.

Goita assures that he will keep his promise to cede command to civilians after the elections scheduled for February 27, 2022.

(with AFP and EP information)

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