JUST IN: Military Recaptures Power In Mali, Shifts Date For Return To Democracy

The military has recaptured power in Mali on Tuesday following Colonel Assimi Goita’s statement announcing he is now in charge of the government of Mali.

The development follows the military’s detention of the president, prime minister and defence minister of the transitional government, President Bah Ndaw, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and Souleymane Doucoure, respectively.

Recall that Goita is the country’s interim vice president, and was part of the mutinying soldiers that engaged in a coup in August 2020 thereby removing the country’s Prime Minister, Boubou Cisse, and the President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, from office.

Reuters reported that Goita alleged on Tuesday that the reason the top leaders were detained was because they tried sabotaging the transition.

“The scheduled elections will be held in 2022. “The vice president of the transition saw himself obligated to act to preserve the transitional charter and defend the republic,” Goita’s aide said on national television.

THE WHISTLER reported that prior to the swearing in of Bah Ndaw (as interim president) on September 25, ECOWAS and the international community gave the interim government a period of 12 months to return the country to constitutional order.

On Monday, the African Union Commission condemned the military’s action while calling for the immediate release of Ndaw and others.