Tension mounts in Mali as rebels detain  President, prime minister

There is a growing tension in Mali following the detention of President of the West African country’s Transitional Government, Bah Ndaw, a retired colonel, along with Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and Defence Minister Souleymane Doucoure, after a cabinet shuffle.

They were arrested by rebellious soldiers and taken to the Kati military base, outside the capital, Bamako.

ECOWAS has promptly condemned the action and called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the detainees.

Their joint statement also called on the international partners to support the efforts by ECOWAS and the AU towards the success of the political transition in Mali.

The leadership of the 15,000-strong United Nations Mission in Mali, MINUSMA has equally issued a similar statement, while Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan, the ECOWAS chief mediator on the Mali crisis, is expected to return to Bamako on Tuesday (today).

He was in Bamako last week, and in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, on Monday, attending a meeting for the reconstitution of the ECOWAS Council of the Wise on conflict management.

The Mali transitional government was put together following the 18th August 2020 military coup that ousted the government of elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The President’s arrest and others took place hours after two military cabinet members were dropped in a government shake-up.

Malian civil society groups and the international community led by ECOWAS had insisted on a civilian-led Transition government but the latter endorsed the Transitional Military Council-named government headed by retired Col Ndaw with the junta leader as his deputy and the military holding some key portfolios.

However, the Ndaw-led government had remained under pressure from the civil society to ensure more inclusivity in its composition and transition programmes, which prompted the cabinet shuffle that brought in more non-state actors, including some members of the M5 Movement.

According to diplomatic sources, President Ndaw and Prime Minister Ouane would appear to have angered the military over some key positions in the new cabinet.

The Kati military base is fast becoming synonymous with change of government in Mali. It was at the base that former President Keita was reportedly forced to sign his resignation in 2020, while a mutiny that started at the same base also resulted in the ouster of his predecessor President Amadou Toumani Toure in 2012.

The latest political tussle could compound the already bad security situation in Mali, notorious for chronic political instability characterised by military coups, tribal and religious conflicts, as well as separatist and militant Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda and ISIS.