Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, President of Mali, resigned late Tuesday evening after devastated troops seized him following months of widespread demonstrations. In his resignation speech on National television, 75-year-old Keita said that he had dismissed the national parliament. He also said that he did not want to shed any more blood over his cling to power. Soldiers detained Mali President Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse on Tuesday at Keita’s house in Bamako. The troops took Keita and Cisse to a military barracks in Kati.
Demonstrators reacted to the reports of a potential rebellion of soldiers at the Kati military facility outside Bamako’s capital, at Independence Square in Bamako. More so, they conveyed their happiness for the victory. BBC confirmed that the deputy head of Kati base, Col Malick Dia, in alliance with Gen Sadio Camara, a principal officer, headed the coup d’état.
What Next after Mali President Resignation?
ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) locked the boundaries of the member countries with Mali following the detention of Keita and Cisse. The organization also halted all financial activities between Mali and its 14 other member states. ECOWAS has immediately excluded Mali from its decision-making institutions. It has pressed for restrictions against those they consider ‘putschists’, allies, and associates. The speaker of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned Keita and Cisse’s arrests and dismissed efforts to reform the Malian government illegitimately.
According to VOA reports, after the arrests, the soldiers in Kati “went on the rampage, got to the arsenals, got the guns, started shooting in the air, went out and cut off access to the camp.”
Kati is the same location where the coup that overthrew President Amadou Toumani Touré started in 2012. At least there were no fatalities from the Tuesday rebellion. Soldiers have been running about openly through Bamako as of late Tuesday. Resistance supporters have held several mass demonstrations since June in Mali, calling for Keita’s resignation. At least 11 civilians were killed in July during fighting between government forces and demonstrators.
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