By Bond Robertson 
Takes power after the Army Cup: Mali’s interim president Bah Ndaw takes the oath in Bamako on September 25, 2020. Photo: Amadou Keita / Reuters
In Mali, the military has arrested members of the transitional government who were appointed to govern after last year’s military coup: the president, the prime minister, and the minister of defense. The United Nations says it is concerned about the situation.
According to several media outlets, including Reuters and Agence France-Presse, the politicians were transferred to the Katy military base outside the capital, Bamako.
President Bah Ndaw, Prime Minister Mukhtar Awani, and Defense Minister Suleiman Doukkur are part of the transitional government appointed to govern Mali after Military coup in August last yearWhen President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was removed from power. The transitional government was to sit for 18 months and prepare the country for a civilian government.
– They came to take me, it was said that Prime Minister Awani said in a telephone conversation to Agence France-Presse before using the call.
According to him, there are soldiers linked to Vice President Asimi Guetta, the man who led the military coup, and who is behind him. Al Jazeera writes.
background: A complete meltdown in Mali would be a nightmare
U.S. Embassy in Bamako He writes on their web site They have received reports of “increased military activity” in the city.
Prime Minister: The interim Prime Minister of Mali, Mokhtar Awani, during a speech at the United Nations in 2006, when he was the country’s foreign minister. Photo: Frank Franklin II / AP
It happened after the government changes
The accident occurred shortly after the changes in government were announced, NTB writes. Several military figures who were central during last year’s coup held positions in the transitional government.
This led to a state of dissatisfaction, and on Monday, a new cabinet was announced consisting of 25 ministers, he wrote. Al Jazeera. Here, two coup plotters were replaced – Defense Minister Sadio Camara and Security Minister Modibo Kone.
Expelling the coup plotters was a huge mistake. A former representative of the authorities in the country told Reuters news agency that the aim of the measures was most likely to restore them to their jobs.
Mali witnessed a military coup in August of last year during which the country’s elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was ousted. Watch the video here:
The former French colony of Mali was characterized by great instability after the outbreak of an armed conflict in the north of the country in January 2012. Tuareg rebels took control of a region in the north, declaring it independent of Mali. Several Islamic groups I gained a foothold here.
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was ousted in the August military coup, came to power in 2013.
Monday’s arrests cast doubt on whether Mali’s transitional government will be able to reach the goal of holding democratic elections in February next year, as it promised. AP writes.
United Nations: Very worried
The African Union and the Organization for the Cooperation of West African States (ECOWAS) also wrote in a joint statement condemning the arrests.
They condemn this extremely dangerous act, which cannot be tolerated in any way under the relevant provisions of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union. And they demand that the soldiers return to their bases, as stated in the statement attributed to the leaders of the organizations, NTB writes.
/-3.996166,17.570692,4%7Cauto/690x388?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiZGFua2UiLCJhIjoiY2plZzA1b3RjMXI2ZTJxbXE2enNyMGE1YyJ9._hBUDqcf6iM4vPpEYFYVIQ)
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres wrote on Twitter that they are working closely with the African Union and ECOWAS.
I am deeply concerned about the news of the arrest of civilian leaders in Mali’s transitional government. I ask for peace and their immediate release, Writes more.
The United Nations is largely present in Mali with the peacekeepers.
On Tuesday evening, European Union leaders condemned what they described as “the kidnapping of the civilian leadership in Mali.”
– What happened was dangerous and dangerous and we are ready to consider the necessary measures, European Union President Charles Michel told reporters after a meeting with leaders of the 27 EU countries, writes NTB.
The former US special envoy for the Sahel, J Peter Pham, told Reuters that what happened was not surprising.
It’s unfortunate, but not surprising. The organization after last year’s coup was not perfect, but it was a compromise agreed upon by all the important parties, he says.