Military who overthrew Mali’s president pledged to restore Stability and Elections

Malians are not happy. The army is coming out to do what the protesters were long before demanding. The protesters were demanding for Keita to resign for a very long time. His removal is now an opportunity for the country to take a new path.

Military officers who overthrew Mali’s president in a coup d’etat pledged on Wednesday to restore stability and oversee a transition to elections within a “reasonable” period.

Tens of thousands of protesters, unhappy with rampant corruption, alleged election irregularities and worsening insecurity that has rendered large parts of Mali ungovernable, have rallied in Bamako since June calling for Keita’s departure.

However, amid demands for the release of the detained politicians, including by former colonial ruler France, the UN general-secretary, Antonio Guterres, also called for the immediate restoration of constitutional order and rule of law in Mali.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned and dissolved parliament late on Tuesday, hours after the coup leaders detained him at gunpoint, plunging a country already facing an armed movement against it as well as mass opposition protests deeper into crisis.

Although anger over the country’s woes has been simmering for a while, the spark for the political crisis was a decision by the Constitutional Court in April to overturn the results of parliamentary polls for 31 seats, in a move that handed 10 more seats to Keita’s party.

The protests turned violent in July when a crackdown by security forces during three days of unrest killed at least 14 protesters and bystanders. Keita’s removal by the army did not come as a surprise.

Since 1963, more than 22 African presidents, then in power, have been assassinated by France, many of them asserted their independence and refused to go along with the colonial power. 

The latest of these leaders being Muammar Ghaddafi. Most of the assassinations and coups were carried out by the SDECE, the DGSE and the DST.

These are three French intelligence services that have the reputation of carrying out coups and murders in Africa.

The situation has been deteriorating for years in Mali and the country has been in an open crisis for weeks now.

French crimes are well known and documentaries flood French and African television stations documenting how France wantonly murders, imprisons and loot in Africa.

The External Documentation and Anti-Espionage Service (SDECE) is in charge of France’s misinformation campaigns in Africa.

The situation in Mali was ripe for the military to take advantage of. The army is not happy because they are ill-equipped to fight the jihadists and they have lost many soldiers.

Keita came to power after winning a 2013 election held the following year after another military coup forced the then-government of Amadou Toumani Toure out of office.

The president was re-elected in 2018, but frustration grew amid a failure to lift living standards for most Malians and contain the conflict engulfing the country’s northern and central regions.

The president was re-elected in 2018, but frustration grew amid a failure to lift living standards for most Malians and contain the conflict engulfing the country’s northern and central regions.

The abduction of veteran politician Soumaila Cisse while campaigning in the volatile center of the country days before the March 29 parliamentary election.

The security crisis has led to the arrest of the one of the major opposition leaders held by terrorists in the north of the country.

Mali descends into chaos day by day [with] anarchy and insecurity because of the fault of the people in charge of its destiny.

Real democracy doesn’t go with complacency, nor weakness of the state authority, which must guarantee freedom and security of the people.

Sahel countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso that have long suffered cross-border attacks are also watching closely the events unfolding in Bamako.

Countries in West Africa fear the violence could further spread into the generally more stable coastal states if the unrest in Mali creates further instability.

On Wednesday afternoon, army officer Colonel Assimi Goita announced himself as the leader of the military coup.

“Let me introduce myself, I am Colonel Assimi Goita, chairman of the National Committee for the salvation of the People,” he said after meeting top civil servants.

Goita had appeared among the group of officers seen in the overnight televised statement but did not speak.

During that adress, Colonel-Major Ismael Wague, spokesman for the coup-makers calling themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People said all international agreements will still be respected and international forces, including the UN mission in Mali and G5 Sahel, will remain in place “for the restoration of stability”.

The coup leaders also remain “committed to the Algiers process” – a 2015 peace agreement between the Malian government and armed groups in the north of the country. Borders were closed and a curfew went into effect from 9pm to 5am.

Al Jazeera / ABC Flash Point WW III News 2020.