Mali’s President, Ibrahim Keita has announced his resignation to avoid ‘bloodshed’, hours after his arrest by troops in a sudden coup that followed a months-long political crisis in the fragile West African nation.
On Tuesday, crowds in the city centre gathered to demand Keita’s resignation, cheering the rebels as they made their way to the 75-year-old’s official residence.
Rebel soldiers detained the president and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse on Tuesday afternoon and drove them to a military base in the town of Kati, near the capital Bamako, following months of massive protests against their administration.
On Tuesday night, Keita announced his immediate resignation and dissolved the country’s national assembly and government.
Speaking on national broadcaster ORTM, he explained that he had little choice but to stand down to avoid bloodshed.
Keira said;
For seven years I have with great joy and happiness tried to put this country back on its feet. If it pleased certain elements of our military to decide this should end with their intervention, do I really have a choice? I should submit to it because I don’t want any blood to be shed.
It was unclear whether Keita was still in custody at the Kati base, which in a twist of fate was also the site of the 2012 coup that brought him to power.
Mali had been in the grip of a deep political impasse since June, and Keita had faced increasingly strident demands for his resignation.
A protest group called June 5 Movement, named after the date of its first protest, has channelled deep anger over corruption, mismanagement of the economy, and the worsening security situation with jihadist and communal violence on the increase.
The crisis worsened last month when at least 11 people were killed over three days of unrest that followed a demonstration.
Keita served as President of Mali from 2013 to August 2020, before his resignation.
He was also the country’s Prime Minister from 1994 to 2000 and President of the National Assembly of Mali from 2002 to 2007.
