It was at midnight, hours after his seizure of gunpoint by soldiers in the capital of Mali, when Ibrahim Boubacar Keita eventually appeared on national television.
“At this very moment, as I thank the Malian people for their support over these long years and the warmth of their grace, I want to tell you about my decision to step down,” the 75-year-old president said behind a mask. carried amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Leaving a dramatic day of confusion and injustice, Keita said he was left with no choice but to explain the dissolution of the government and the parliament.
“If certain elements of our army were happy to decide that this should end with their intervention, do I really have a choice?” he said. “[I must] submit to it because I do not want bloodshed. “
Keita announced his resignation on national television [ORTM/AFP]
In the early hours of Wednesday, it was time for the slaying soldiers who had forced Keita out of office and arrested several senior government officials to make an appearance on state television.
Dressed in military fatigues, the coups – which called themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People – promised to control a transition to elections within a “reasonable” period and to restore stability in a country struggling to to contain a series of urgent crises, including an escalating conflict with armed groups spilled over into the wider Sahel region.
“We do not hold on to power, but we hold on to the stability of the country,” said Major-General Ismael Wague in his address to Malians. “This will allow us to organize general elections, within an agreed reasonable time frame, to provide Mali with strong institutions that can better manage our daily lives and restore trust between the government and the government.”
International condemnation of the military coup was rapid. Even for the claim of Keita, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – a regional bloc that has tried unsuccessfully in recent weeks to mediate an escalating political disagreement between the president and an opposition coalition demanding mass rallies. ‘ t demanded his dismissal – said it “completely condemns” his “reversal”.
In a statement, it announced a series of sanctions, including halting trade and imposing ground and air border closure. ECOWAS also said it was suspending Mali membership, a move followed by the African Union (AU) on Wednesday.
At noon calls for the release of the detained politicians, including by former colonial ruler France, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, also called “for the immediate restoration of constitutional rule and regulation in Mali”.
Manu Lekunze, a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, said both ECOWAS and the UN were selective in their condemnations and should listen to the Malians who have taken to the streets for weeks.
“Malians are not happy. The army is coming out to do what the Protestants demanded. The Protestants demanded that Keita be fired for a very long time. His removal is an opportunity for the country to take a new path,” Lekunze Al said. Jazeera.
“France, ECOWAS, UN and the AU have come out and said, ‘we do not want unconstitutional change’, but you see unconstitutional activities going on all over Africa. In Côte d’Ivoire you have a president seeking a third term and the “UN has nothing to say about it. In Guinea-Conakry, not far from Mali, the president is seeking a third term. So, the constitutional argument is not really an argument,” he added.
Opposition groups called for a mass rally in Bamako, demanding the resignation of Keita [Rey Byhre/Reuters]
Tens of thousands of protesters, dissatisfied with rampant corruption, alleged election irregularities and outrageous insecurity that have made large parts of Mali ungovernable, have been calling in Bamako since June to demand Keita’s departure.
Although anger over the country’s misery has been raging for some time, the spark for the political crisis was a decision by the Constitutional Court in April to overturn the results of parliamentary polls for 31 seats, in a move that saw 10 more seats handed over to Keita’s party.
The protests turned violent in July when a collapse by security forces during three days of unrest killed at least 14 Protestants and bystanders, according to law groups.
Marie-Roger Biloa, an analyst at Africa International Media Group, said the removal of Keita by the military did not come as a surprise.
“The situation has worsened in Mali for years and the country has now been in an open crisis for weeks,” Biloa told Al Jazeera.
“The situation was ripe for the army to take advantage of. The army is not happy because they are not well equipped to fight the jihadists and they have lost many soldiers. There is also common violence,” he said. se. “The situation was out of hand.”
Tuesday’s coup came amid opposition protests calling for the arrest of Keita, who has been shaking the crisis-torn country since June [Anadolu]
Keita came to power after winning an election in 2013 that was held the following year after another military coup forced the then government of Amadou Toumani Toure out of office.
“He was a unifying figure in a broken country when he came to power. Keita could endure the discontent in the military,” William Lawrence, a professor of political science at the American University in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera.
The president was re-elected in 2018, but frustration grew amid a failure to raise the standard of living for most Malians and contain the conflict that plagues the northern and central regions of the country.
“There is a serious political crisis that grew out of the March 2020 clashes; there is a serious economic crisis complicated by COVID-19; and there is also a serious security crisis, which has led to the arrest of one of the biggest opposition leaders held by terrorists in the north of the country, “said Lawrence, referring to the abduction of veteran politician Soumaila Cisse as he campaigned in the country’s fleeing center days before the March 29 election. .
Keita’s cover “opens up a phase of uncertainty”, according to Boubacar Sangare, a researcher at the think tank for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
“The apparent support of the coup by a section of the population says a lot about how they view state institutions and the constitution. It also shows the depth of anger and decay in which these institutions find themselves,” Sangare told Al Jazeera.
Sahel countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso, which have long suffered from border attacks, are also watching closely the events unfolding in Bamako. Countries in West Africa are worried that the violence could spread further into the generally more stable coastal states if the unrest in Mali creates further instability.
“Bureau countries are particularly concerned about the consequences of instability in Mali in the context of forthcoming elections … and a deepening and expansion of instability,” Sangare added.
Follow Hamza Mohamed on Twitter: @Hamza_Africa
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