Detained in soldiers’ uprising, Malian president steps down
BAMAKO, Mali — Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced his resignation late Tuesday on state television, hours after mutinous soldiers had fired shots into the air outside his home before detaining him.
The development came after more than two months of regular demonstrations calling for him to step down three years before his final term was due to end.
Speaking on national broadcaster ORTM, Keita said his resignation was effective immediately. A banner across the bottom of the television screen referred to him as the “exiting president.”
“I wish no blood to be shed to keep me in power,” Keita said. “I have decided to step down from office.”
Keita, who was democratically elected and reelected, was left with few choices after the soldiers seized weapons from the armory in the garrison town of Kati and then advanced on the capital, Bamako.
The soldiers moved freely through the streets of Bamako on Tuesday, making it increasingly clear that they were in control of the city. There was no immediate comment from the soldiers, who hail from the same military barracks in Kati where a coup originated more than eight years ago.
The moves capped off a day of political chaos in Mali. The U.N. and former colonizer France have spent more than seven years trying to stabilize the country after the 2012 coup allowed an Islamic insurgency to take hold in the West African nation.
The latest unrest had kicked off when the mutinous soldiers in Kati took weapons from the armory at the barracks, then detained senior military officers. Anti-government protesters cheered the soldiers’ actions, with some even setting fire to a building that belongs to Mali’s justice minister in the capital.
Government workers fled their offices as armed men began detaining officials, including the Finance Minister Abdoulaye Daffe.
It was a dramatic change of fate for Keita, who has tried to meet the protesters’ demands through a series of concessions since the demonstrations began in June. Keita, who has broad support from
France and other Western allies, first came to power in 2013 when he won more than 77% of the vote in a democratic election.
Tuesday’s developments were immediately condemned by the regional bloc that had been mediating Mali’s political crisis. France and the United States also strongly criticized the moves.
“The U.S. is opposed to all unconstitutional changes of government whether in the streets or by security forces,” tweeted J. Peter Pham, the State Department’s special envoy for the Sahel region.
It was a repeat of the events leading up to the 2012 coup, which ultimately unleashed years of chaos in Mali.