{"id":33619,"date":"2021-05-25T17:29:39","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T16:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=33619"},"modified":"2021-05-25T17:29:39","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T16:29:39","slug":"malis-military-detains-president-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=33619","title":{"rendered":"Mali\u2019s military detains president, prime minister"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UN, AU condemn Bah Ndaw and Moctar Ouane\u2019s detention and call for their \u2018immediate and unconditional release\u2019.

Bah Ndaw, Mali’s interim president, at his Inauguration ceremony in Bamako, Mali, on September 25, 2020 [File: Amadou Keita\/ Reuters]

Soldiers in Mali have detained the president and prime minister of the interim government, according to the United Nations and the African Union, deepening political chaos in the country just nine months after a military coup overthrew its previous leader.

The detention of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane on Monday came hours after a government reshuffle left out two soldiers who led the coup in August last year and raised fears of a second military takeover.

In a joint statement, the UN and AU called for the \u201cimmediate and unconditional release\u201d of Mali\u2019s civilian leadership and said \u201cthe international community rejects in advance any act of coercion, including forced resignations\u201d.

The United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS also signed the statement.

Diplomatic and government sources told Reuters and AFP news agencies that Ndaw, Ouane as well as Defence Minister Souleymane Doucore were being held at a military base in Kati, outside the capital, Bamako.

AFP managed to reach Ouane briefly, and before the line cut, he told the agency that soldiers had come to get him.

\u2018Kidnapping<\/strong>\u2019

The joint statement called Ndaw and Ouane\u2019s detentions \u201creckless\u201d and called for Mali\u2019s political transition \u201cto resume its course and conclude within the established timeframe\u201d.

It added: \u201cWe emphasize that the ill-considered action taken today carries the risk of weakening the mobilization of the international community in support of Mali.\u201d

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern in a Twitter post and urged calm, while European Union leaders condemned what they called the \u201ckidnapping\u201d of Mali\u2019s civilian leadership.

\u201cWhat happened was grave and serious and we are ready to consider necessary measures,\u201d EU Council President Charles Michel told reporters after a summit of the bloc\u2019s 27 leaders.

Ndaw, a former soldier, and Ouane were sworn in September last year after Mali\u2019s generals \u2013 faced with the threat of regional sanctions \u2013 agreed to hand over power to a transitional government.

Coup leader Assimi Goita was appointed as vice president and the caretaker administration was tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition back to civilian rule. Two others who were instrumental in the coup \u2013 Sadio Camara and Colonel Modibo Kone \u2013 were given the defence and security portfolios, respectively.

Camara and Kone were replaced in Monday\u2019s shuffle, although the military held onto other strategic portfolios it previously controlled.

No reason was given for Camara and Kone\u2019s exclusion, but the cabinet shakeup came in the face of growing criticism of the interim government, with civil society groups questioning whether the military-dominated government has the will, or the ability to push through reforms and hold elections next year.

\u2018Decisions will be made\u2019<\/strong>

There was no immediate comment from the military or the government on Ndaw and Ouane\u2019s detentions and the city of Bamako remained relatively calm late on Monday.

One military official in Kati told Reuters the detentions were not an arrest.

\u201cWhat they have done is not good,\u201d the source said, referring to the cabinet reshuffle. \u201cWe are letting them know, decisions will be made.\u201d

Susanna Wing, associate professor of political science at the US-based Haverford College, said the latest developments appeared to be a \u201ccoup in response to the reshuffling of the cabinet\u201d.

\u201cThe military and the politicians were jostling for power and it seems the military was not willing to let go of at least two key figures, who were sitting in the ministry of defence and the ministry of security and civil protection,\u201d Wing said from Philadelphia. \u201cIt\u2019s very possible that the military felt threatened by politicians who perhaps were going to take steps forward in a real transition of power and to elections next year.\u201d

Kati\u2019s military base is notorious for ending the rule of Malian leaders. Last August, the military took President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to Kati and forced him to resign. A mutiny there helped topple his predecessor Amadou Toumani Toure in 2012.

Mali has been in turmoil ever since.

Toure\u2019s departure triggered an ethnic Tuareg rebellion, which was hijacked by al Qaeda-linked fighters.

French forces beat the armed groups back in 2013 but they have since regrouped and carry out regular attacks on the army and civilians. They have exported their methods to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger where attacks have skyrocketed since 2017.

Al Jazeera\u2019s Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dakar in neighbouring Senegal, said the situation in Mali had been \u201cvolatile\u201d even before the military\u2019s detention of the country\u2019s civilian leadership.

\u201cThere\u2019s been an uptick in violence, especially during the month of Ramadan,\u201d he said. \u201cThere have been attacks in Segou, just 250 kilometres (155 miles) away from the capital. We\u2019ve seen the biggest trade union organise strikes for the past week because wages haven\u2019t been paid for civil servants. And add to that, the economic fallout from the pandemic.

\u201cSo, all in all, this is a very difficult situation for Malians.\u201d

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UN, AU condemn Bah Ndaw and Moctar Ouane\u2019s detention and call for their \u2018immediate and unconditional release\u2019. Bah Ndaw, Mali’s interim president, at his Inauguration ceremony in Bamako, Mali, on September 25, 2020 [File: Amadou Keita\/ Reuters] Soldiers in Mali have detained the president and prime minister of the interim government, according to the United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[260,3420,756],"class_list":["post-33619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-mali","tag-pm","tag-president"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}