(3 minutes read)
· The leader of Mali’s 2020 coup, Col. Assimi Goita, has proclaimed himself as the country’s President, immediately after the release of Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and President Bah Ndaw from custody
· President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were arrested last Monday, along with other government leaders, hours after naming a new Cabinet
· The new government did not include two major former junta leaders
The leader of Mali’s 2020 coup, Col. Assimi Goita, has proclaimed himself as the country’s President, immediately after the release of Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and President Bah Ndaw from custody.
President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were arrested last Monday, along with other government leaders, hours after naming a new Cabinet. The new government did not include two major former junta leaders.
Goita has been serving as the transitional vice president since September. Now he regained control of the West African country by deposing the president and prime minister in an unprecedented move.
Col. Assimi Goita pledged to go ahead with holding new elections in 2022. However, political analysts are skeptical about his intentions. The new political unrest could further destabilize efforts to control Mali’s long-running Islamic insurgency. The United Nations now spends some 1.2 billion US dollars annually on a peacekeeping mission in Mali and France’s military has spent eight years trying to stabilize its former colony amid the ongoing threat.
