Goita, one of the military officers who led last year’s overthrow, said a new election would be held next spring.
He accused the other leaders of violating Mali’s transition agreement after a Cabinet reshuffle they orchestrated removed two members of the junta that toppled Mali’s government.
“The vice president of the transition saw himself obligated to act to preserve the transitional charter and defend the republic,” Goita said in a statement.
N’Daw and Ouane have been “placed outside their prerogative,” the statement said. They remained at a military base on the outskirts of Bamako on Tuesday.
An international body monitoring Mali’s 18-month transition to a civilian-led government — comprising the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the United Nations and U.S. officials, among others — has called for their swift release.
The body said in a statement Monday that it condemned the “attempted coup” and that the “military elements” detaining the two men “will be held personally responsible for their security.
Moussa Mara, who served as prime minister under the previous Malian president, urged Goita and the transition leaders Tuesday to work toward democracy.
Before Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta resigned on state television last August in the custody of mutinous soldiers, his predecessor had also been ousted in a mutiny and brought to the same military base where N’Daw and Ouane are detained.
“The seizure of power by force must be fought — it must be denounced,” Mara said. “We must close the period of attacks in order to gain or keep power.”
Thousands of Malians had taken to the streets in the weeks preceding Keïta’s exit, accusing him of corruption. They criticized his response to Islamist insurgents controlling much of the countryside and staging attacks with alarming regularity over the past eight years.
Protest groups at the time said they would not stop until Keïta stepped down.
He and the other junta leaders had agreed to work with regional authorities on restoring a civilian-led government. That process was supposed to take 18 months.
On Tuesday, Goita denounced the interim government’s leadership as a “guarantee of instability with immeasurable consequences.”
Mali was still shaking off the fallout of last year’s mutiny when it was plunged into chaos again. Trade restrictions on commercial items and financial flows stung the economy, which was already struggling. (The U.S. announced that it would halt military assistance to Mali.)
West African leaders lifted the punishing sanctions in October, citing the appointment of N’daw, who was technically a civilian. He had retired from the military about a decade ago.
Yet N’daw and the interim prime minister clashed with Goita’s approach, according to two Western diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, and approved a set of new ministers without telling him.
“This has been brewing,” said J. Peter Pham, U.S. special envoy for the Sahel region of Africa during Mali’s last coup e’tat. “For one party to change the terms — of course you’ll get a negative reaction. These guys, having just staged a coup, having been tucked into a civilian-led transition, aren’t just going to say thank you and go away when you dismiss them.”
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May 25, 2021 at 09:34PM
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Mali’s acting vice president ousts two leaders in second coup d’etat - The Washington Post
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