Coup d’etat in Mali. The President of the Transition of Mali, Bah N’Daw, and the interim prime minister Moctar Ouane were arrested by the coup military and were “taken by force” to their headquarters located in the military base of Kati, outside the capital. Bamako, the same from which the coup d’etat of August 2020 that led to the overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita started. This is reported by military sources cited by local media. Previously, Prime Minister Ouane had confirmed that he had been forcibly taken by the military who ordered him to go to President N’Daw. “The military is at my house right now. They are taking me to the president of the Transition”, said Ouane himself in a telephone conversation with “RFI”. According to witnesses quoted by the same French-speaking broadcaster, it was the men of the former military junta led by General Assimi Goita who went to the home of Prime Minister Ouane.
In fact, the news of the coup comes within hours of the formation of the new government, following the resignation – later rejected – presented in recent days by Prime Minister Moctar Ouane. According to reports from the local news site “Mali Actu”, fueling the coup attempt would be the discontent of the military of the former junta, who would not have approved the reshuffle which saw the exclusion of two heavyweights of the junta, namely Colonels Sadio Camara and Modibo Kone ‘, to date respectively Minister of Defense and Security, who have been replaced by generals Doucoure’ and Mamadou Lamine. The new government formed today, which has a total of 25 members, also includes two exponents of the Union for Republic and Democracy (Urd), the main political force of the 5th June Movement (M5), the collective that had animated the protests that then they led to the overthrow of President Keita.