Mali: The African Union ‘strongly’ condemns arrest of President Keita

19 Août 2020

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, August 19 (Infosplusgabon) - The chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, Tuesday ’strongly’ condemned the arrest here of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, and his Prime Minister Boubou Cissé by soldiers who attempted to stage a coup d’Etat.

"I strongly condemn the arrest of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Prime Minister Boubou Cissé and other members of the Malian government and call for their immediate release," Mahamat said in a tweet.

"I call ECOWAS, the United-Nations and all the international community to join their efforts efficiently to oppose any use of force to get out of the political crisis in Mali," he added.

The Malian president was arrested by soldiers late on Tuesday afternoon in Bamako in a mutiny shaking the country in the morning, reliable sources said.

Diplomatic sources in Bamako said that Keita was arrested by the soldiers as he was in his residence together with Prime Minister Boubou Cissé and his son, Member of Parliament Karim Keïta.

France ’strongly condemned’ the mutiny and reaffirmed “full attachment to the Malian sovereignty and democracy’’, said a statement issued by the ministry of foreign affairs here Tuesday.

The statement said that France "fully shares the position expressed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)" which also condemned the situation before calling for "the keeping of constitutional order, urging the soldiers to return to their barracks immediately".

The Malian government asked the soldiers who took the weapons to show common sense and patriotism and drop their guns.

It stressed that "the movement of protest expresses a certain frustration that can find legitimate causes. The Mali government calls the actors of the rebellion acts to show restraint".

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/OMM/GABON2020

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