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Former Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, recently ousted in a coup, left the hospital on Thursday after being treated for a mini-stroke, sources said.
Keita can now head to the United Arab Emirates for further treatment, they added.
“Everything is going well. The test results look good,” said a medical source at the private health center in the capital Bamako, where the former president was treated.
A member of Keita’s entourage told AFP that he had returned home in the evening, adding that “the United Arab Emirates agreed to send a medical plane to pick him up,” although details have yet to be worked out.
Keita was ousted from his post on August 18 by young military men who organized an uprising at a base near Bamako before heading to the city, where they captured Keita and other leaders.
Under pressure from the West African ECOWAS bloc, the junta that emerged from the rebellion released Keita on August 27 and returned him to his residence in Bamako, under surveillance.
Keita, 75, was admitted to the private hospital Tuesday after suffering what’s called a transient ischemic attack.
This occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted for a few minutes, causing symptoms similar to those of a stroke, such as numbness on one side of the body, vision difficulties, or confusion in understanding speech.
Doctors take these events seriously, as they can be a precursor to a full-blown stroke.
Earlier Thursday, the head of Mali’s new junta visited the man he ousted in hospital.
“A delegation from the ruling army, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, visited (the) former president at the clinic,” a doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.
Keita’s relatives confirmed the visit.
The board has said that Keita is authorized to leave the country for medical care if necessary.
Keita was ousted two years after his second five-year term.
In the weeks leading up to the coup, he had been fighting protests fueled by his handling of the jihadist insurgency and his inability to reverse Mali’s faltering economy.
