Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and his Prime Minister Boubou Cissé were arrested late Tuesday afternoon by soldiers in revolt, elements of which then fraternized with demonstrators who have been demanding for months the departure of the head of the State.
In a few hours, the mutiny that broke out in the morning in the Kati garrison turned into an attempted coup, condemned by the international community, and in particular France, which deployed 5,100 soldiers in the Sahel, and in particular in Mali, as part of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane.
“We can tell you that the President and the Prime Minister are under our control. We arrested them at his home ”(at the Head of State’s home in Bamako), one of the leaders of the mutiny told AFP, who requested anonymity.
Comments confirmed by the director of communication of the head of the Malian government, Boubou Doucouré: the president and the prime minister “were driven by the rebellious soldiers in armored vehicles to Kati”, where the Soundiata Keïta camp is located, at a fifteen kilometers from Bamako.
The mutineers then took control of the camp and adjacent streets, before heading in convoy to the center of the capital, according to an AFP correspondent.
In Bamako, they were cheered by demonstrators gathered to demand the departure of the Head of State near the Independence Square, epicenter of the protest that has shaken Mali for several months, before heading for the residence of President Keïta, according to the same source.
Even before the announcement of the arrest of the president and his prime minister, West African countries, France and the United States had expressed their concern and denounced any attempt to overthrow power.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “his full support for the ongoing mediation efforts of West African states.
The Head of State “is closely monitoring the situation and condemns the attempted mutiny in progress,” added the French presidency.
The head of the French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, had previously affirmed that France condemned “with the greatest firmness” this “mutiny”.
The president of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Moussa Faki Mahamat, “strongly” condemned the arrest of the Malian president.
“This can in no way be a response to the deep socio-political crisis that has hit Mali for several months”, underlined the head of European Union diplomacy Josep Borrell.
Shortly before his arrest by the soldiers, Prime Minister Boubou Cissé had asked them in a press release to “silence the guns”, saying he was ready to engage with them in “fraternal dialogue in order to dispel all misunderstandings”.
“The movements of mood noted reflect a certain frustration which may have legitimate causes,” said Mr. Cissé, without further details on the reasons for the anger of the military.
Mali is facing a serious socio-political crisis which worries the international community.
A motley coalition of political opponents, religious leaders and members of civil society is stepping up demonstrations to demand the departure of President Keïta, accused of mismanagement.
Added to this is a “deleterious social situation”, according to union leader Sidibé Dédéou Ousmane.
The Mouvement du 5 Juin-Rassemblement des Forces patriotiques du Mali (M5-RFP), which is leading the protest, refused a meeting with President Keïta last Thursday, setting in particular the end of the “repression” against its activists as a prerequisite.
On the weekend of July 10, a demonstration called for by the June 5 Movement degenerated into three days of deadly unrest.
It was from the Kati camp on March 21, 2012, when the Tuareg rebels had launched a major offensive in northern Mali and the jihadists were flocking from neighboring countries, that soldiers had mutinied against incapacity. government to deal with the situation.
They had driven out President Amadou Toumani Touré.
The coup precipitated the fall of northern Mali into the hands of armed Islamist groups, who occupied this region for nine months before being partly driven out by an international military intervention launched by France in January 2013 and still In progress.
Under international pressure, the junta ended up ceding power to interim civilian authorities until the election in 2013 of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.
Despite foreign interventions, jihadist violence, often mixed with community conflicts and banditry, continues and has even spread since 2015 to central Mali and to neighboring countries, Burkina Faso and Niger.