The United Nations’ mission in Mali on Monday called for the ”immediate and unconditional” release of the country’s president and prime minister, who were detained by the military.
The MINUSMA mission said on Twitter that those who hold the leaders will have to answer for their actions. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for calm and for Mali’s civilian leaders to be released.
”I am deeply concerned by news of detention of civilian leaders of the Malian transition,” Guterres said on Twitter. ”I call for calm & their unconditional release.”
The European Union and the African Union also condemned the arrests.[…]
Two senior officials, who declined to be named, told AFP that soldiers had taken Ndaw and Ouane to the Kati military camp on the outskirts of the capital Bamako. Their detentions followed a sensitive government reshuffle on Monday afternoon, which was designed to respond to growing criticism of the interim government. The military kept the strategic portfolios it controlled during the previous administration in the reshuffle. But two coup leaders — ex-defence minister Sadio Camara and ex-security minister Colonel Modibo Koné — were replaced.
The reshuffle also came at a time of growing political challenges in the capital Bamako, and pressure to stick to the deadline for promised reforms. […]
In an example of mounting unease, the opposition M5 movement — which spearheaded protests against Keïta in 2020 — this month urged dissolving the interim government and demanded a ”more legitimate” body. But the M5 is divided. Two members of the Union for the Republic and Democracy party, for example, were appointed interim ministers Monday. The party is part of the M5. Läs artikel