Kenya Insights

Tag: Mali coup

  • Mali’s President, PM detained by military

    Mali’s President, PM detained by military

    Top military officers in Mali arrested President Bah Ndaw, prime minister Moctar Ouane and defense minister Souleymane Doucoure on Monday and put them in a military detention outside Bamako.

    The move has worsened the political impasse in the West African nation just months after a military coup ousted the previous president and his administration.

    President Ndaw, PM Ouane and the defense minister Souleymane Doucoure were all arrested then taken to a military base in Kati just hours after two members of the military lost their plum positions in a government reshuffle.

    The arrests come after another military ouster in August toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita leaving the country exposed to violent Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State which are controlling the northern regions.

    Political instability and constant military squabbles have made it impossible for Western powers and neighboring countries to restore peace and stability in Mali.

    The United Nations mission in Mali has since called for the group’s “immediate and unconditional” release as it promised to take action on the rogue officers behind the detentions.

    “The international community rejects in advance any act imposed by coercion, including forced resignations,” the group said.

    Both Ndaw and Ouane had were tasked to preside over an 18-month transition which should see Mali back to civilian rule after the August coup but they have went against the military and took control over a number of key positions in government.

    Detained Mali prime minister Moctar Ouane [p/courtesy]
    But a ranking military official in Kati, which is a few kilometres away from the capital Bamako said this was not an arrest but the two were wrong to rearrange the government.

    “What they have done is not good. We are letting them know, decisions will be made.” he said.

    The military base in Kati is notorious for ending the rule of  civilian leaders in Mali.  In August 2020, the military detained President Keita in Kati where they forced him to resign. A mutiny there helped topple his predecessor Amadou .

    Mali has been chaos since the ouster of Keita’s predecessor, Amadou Toumani Toure in 2012 which triggered an ethnic Tuareg rebellion to take control of the northern two-thirds of the country which is under jihadists.

    French forces defeated the insurgents in 2013 but they have since regrouped and now carrying out regular attacks on the army and civilians and crossing into the neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

     

  • Mali Supreme Court drops coup charges against former PM, radio journalist

    Mali Supreme Court drops coup charges against former PM, radio journalist

    Mali’s Supreme Court on Monday confirmed that the charges against top government officials including a former prime minister Boubou Cissé, businessmen and a radio journalist who were accused of plotting a coup d’état had been dropped.

    “The court has deliberated. It has rejected the appeal of the public prosecutor lodged against a decision to drop the proceedings taken in March by the Bamako Court of Appeal”, lawyer Cheick Oumar Konaré told AFP.

    The suspects including the activist and radio host Mohamed Youssouf Bathily alias “Ras Bath”, were released on Monday afternoon after spending close to four months in detention.

    Other detainees included Vital Robert Diop, general manager of the Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU, a gambling organization that bets on horse races and games of chance), Aguibou Tall who is half-brother to the former PM. Mr Tall also runs an agency working on access to telecommunications and two senior executives of the State Finance docket, Mamadou Koné and Souleymane Kansaye.

    Mr. Boubou Cissé was the last head of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s government before he was overthrown by the military coup in August 2020 and he appeared in the case over his role in instigating the coup.

    Ex-Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta [p/courtesy]
    Cissé enjoys connections with powerful individuals in the government and the military that enabled him to dodge arrests even after his warrant issued in late 2020 when his relatives boasted that he was “in a safe place” in Bamako.

    “This decision by the Supreme Court puts a definitive end to this sinister case, and hopefully to the unnecessary persecution and attempts to undermine our honor and dignity as part of an imaginary plot,”Cissé said in a statement.

    His lawyer,Kassoum Tapo added that the deliberation of the Supreme Court is without appeal, meaning that the case against the former PM of Mali is over.

    This case began in December with a series of arrests by the General Directorate of State Services (DGSE, Malian intelligence) was guarded with only few details revealed to the public.

    The Malian justice system concealed the personalities of those involved since the military took the grip on power after the coup that overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.

    The ruling was not a surprise since the court of appeal had in early March ordered that the charges be dropped and that “all the defendants” be released immediately in this so-called “plot against the government of the Republic but the prosecutor’s office appealed.