Mali President Keita arrested by mutinying soldiers, say security sources

Mali President Keita arrested by mutinying soldiers, say security sources
Mali President Keita arrested by mutinying soldiers, say security sources

Thank you for your reading and interest in the news Mali President Keita arrested by mutinying soldiers, say security sources and now with details

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - Mutineering soldiers say they have detained Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, AFP reported on Tuesday evening.

Details remain unclear, but according to witnesses and officials, soldiers seized an important army base in the town of Kati, near the capital Bamako, on Tuesday morning.

"We can tell you that the president and the prime minister are under our control," the leader, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

He added that the pair had been "arrested" at Keita's residence in the capital Bamako.

Another military official, who also declined to be named, said the president and prime minister were in an armoured vehicle en route to Kati.

It came just hours after Mr Cisse called for "fraternal dialogue" with the soldiers who have triggered fears of a coup attempt.

"The government is calling for calm and makes itself available ... to engage in fraternal dialogue in order to remove all misunderstandings," he said in a statement.

The prime minister also admitted that the soldiers may have "legitimate frustrations".

France condemned "in the strongest terms" what it described as the mutiny launched by soldiers in crisis-torn Mali.

"France has become aware of the mutiny that has taken place today in Kati, Mali. It condemns in the strongest terms this serious event," Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian said in a statement that also urged the soldiers to return to their barracks "without delay".

The developments on Tuesday bore a resemblance to the events leading up to the 2012 military coup, which led to years of chaos in Mali.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, elcted in 2013, is facing mounting pressure to step down as his unpopularity grows.

Regional mediators urged him to share power in a unity government but those overtures were swiftly rejected by opposition leaders, who said they would not stop short of Mr Keita's removal.

His government has been criticised for how it is handling the militant insurgency engulfing the country, which was once praised as a model of democracy in the region.

Updated: August 18, 2020 09:39 PM

These were the details of the news Mali President Keita arrested by mutinying soldiers, say security sources for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.

It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at The National and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.

PREV Amsterdam riot police make arrests following football violence
NEXT Explainer: What legal grounds does the UN have to oppose Israel’s ban on UNRWA and what could it mean for Gaza?