BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2021) On Thursday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described recent developments in Mali which threaten peaceful transition in the country.
Earlier in the week, a Sputnik source said the military had arrested interim President Bah N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and transported them to the Kati army base near the capital of Bamako. According to the source, the presidential guard refused to protect the president, allowing the military to take him away. Mali's vice-president, Col. Assimi Goita, said he had dismissed the president and prime minister for violating the Transitional Charter. A military source told Sputnik that Goita had informed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that a military council would assume rule over the country.
"We are very concerned regarding these coups after coups and this leads to a break in a very positive process and this poses a risk to security in the country," Borrell said at a press conference after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Lisbon.
In August 2020, a group of Malian soldiers started a mutiny at the Kati military base near Bamako. Insurgents kidnapped several ministers and high-ranking military officials, including former President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita, who later dissolved the government and parliament.
On September 12, the military approved the basic law and strategy for transition after consultations with political and civil figures. The parties agreed that the transition period would last eighteen months. Bah N'Daw, a former defense minister, was appointed as president for that period.
