Mali: Military junta wants three-year rule, agrees to free president

The military junta that seized power in Mali wants a military-led transitional body to rule for three years and has agreed to release the ousted president, according to a source in the ECOWAS delegation to Mali.

“The junta has affirmed that it wants a three-year transition to review the foundations of the Malian state. This transition will be directed by a body led by a soldier, who will also be head of state. The government will also be predominantly composed of soldiers,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

An official from the military junta also confirmed to AFP that “the three-year transition would have a military president and a government mostly composed of soldiers.” Adding that the soldiers have agreed to free Keita, detained along with other political leaders since the coup on Tuesday, and he would be able to return to his home in the capital Bamako. Prime minister Boubou Cisse, who has been held with Keita at a military base outside the capital where the coup began, would be moved to a secure residence in the city.

Last week’s coup followed months of protests calling for Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign as public discontent with the government grew over the collapsing economy and a brutal Islamist insurgency. While the coup was met with international condemnation, thousands of opposition supporters celebrated the president’s ouster in the streets of Bamako.

Keita won an election in a landslide in 2013, presenting himself as a unifying figure in a fractured country, and was re-elected in 2018 for another five-year term.