On 18 August 2020, elements of the Malian Armed Forces began a mutiny,[4][5][6] and subsequently undertook a coup d'état. Soldiers on pick-up trucks stormed the Soundiata military base in the town of Kati, where gunfire was exchanged before weapons were distributed from the armory and senior officers arrested.[7][8] Tanks and armoured vehicles were seen on the town's streets,[9] as well as military trucks heading for the capital, Bamako.[10] The soldiers detained several government officials including President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, who resigned and dissolved the government.[11] This was the country's second coup in less than 10 years, following the 2012 coup d'état.[12] On a subregional level, the coup also marked an end to a period of nearly six years, since the 2014 Burkina Faso uprising and the ousting of Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaoré, during which there was not a single undemocratic change of government in West Africa. For this subregion, where many countries have a history of civil war and violent conflict, this was a period of remarkable stability, during which ECOWAS even managed to find a peaceful resolution to the 2016–2017 Gambian constitutional crisis.[13]
On the morning of 18 August 2020, soldiers began firing bullets into the air at a military base in Kati, a town 15 kilometres (9 miles) from Bamako, the capital of Mali.[5] After moving into the capital, the mutineers arrested Minister of Finance Abdoulaye Daffe, the Chief of Staff of the National Guard Mahamane Touré,[7] and Moussa Timbiné, speaker of the National Assembly.[10] The Prime Minister, Boubou Cissé, appealed for dialogue with the mutineers, acknowledging they held "legitimate frustrations".[18] A mutiny leader later claimed that Keïta and Cissé had been arrested at the former's residence in Bamako;[19][20]African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki confirmed that Keïta, Cissé, and other officials had been arrested and called for their release.[21] A spokesman for the M5-RFP opposition coalition welcomed their detention, describing it as a "popular insurrection".[18]
The officials were taken to the military camp in Kati where the uprising began.[21] As news of the mutiny spread, hundreds of protesters gathered at Bamako's Independence Monument to demand Keïta's resignation.[22] Protesters also set a building belonging to the Ministry of Justice ablaze.[22]
At the time, it was not clear how many soldiers took part in the coup, who initiated it or who would now take charge.[23]
President Keïta resigned around midnight,[19] while also dissolving the government and parliament. "I want no blood to be spilled to keep me in power," he added.[23] Five colonels appeared in the TV broadcast to the nation, led by Colonel Assimi Goïta. They called themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People. The bodies of four people killed by gunfire and about 15 wounded, all likely hit by stray bullets, were brought into one of the city's main hospitals, said Elhadj Djimé Kanté, a spokesman for the hospital union. The coup leaders denied that anyone had been killed, but soldiers were constantly firing in the air, cheered on by crowds of young people.[24][25]
Military leaders had ordered closure of all border crossings and imposed a night-time curfew. "As of today, 19 August 2020, all air and land borders are closed until further notice. A curfew is in place from 21:00 to 05:00 until further notice," Col-Major Ismaël Wagué, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Malian Air Force, said in a televised address. He also invited opposition groups to talks for fresh elections.[23]
Opposition member Mahmoud Dicko announced that he is leaving politics as a result of a meeting between him and some of the soldiers that took part in the mutiny.[26]
Coup leaders promised new elections within a "reasonable timeline," without specifying what that meant.[27][28]
Keïta left the country in September for medical treatment in the United Arab Emirates. Keïta, 75 years old, was originally hospitalised in the capital a few days before leaving.[29]
Experts chosen by Mali's new military leaders have proposed a two-year interim government led by a president chosen by them, despite calls by Mali's neighbors for elections within a year. They suggest that the soldiers behind the coup nominate the interim president and vice president and propose the interim president choose the prime minister. Under the draft, the president would be from the civil or military sectors. The nominee must be between the ages of 35 and 75 and would not be allowed to run for election at the end of the transition. Right after the coup, military leaders promised to reinstate a civilian government and hold elections within a relatively short timeframe.[30]
On 21 September 2020 Bah Ndaw was named interim president by a group of 17 electors, with Goïta being appointed vice president. The government is supposed to preside over an interim period of 18 months.[32] A spokesperson for political-religious leader Mahmoud Dicko praised his nomination as president.[32] Leaders of the M5-RFP, active since the 2020 Malian protests, also signalled support.[33] On 25 September the government was inaugurated.[34]
On 18 January 2021, the transitional government announced that the CNSP had been disbanded. Although the initial agreement in September 2020 had stated that the CNSP junta would be dissolved as soon as the transitional government came to power, this had not yet taken place.[35]
International reaction
Representatives of several countries[a] condemned the coup, as did representatives of the African Union,[51]European Union,[52] and United Nations.[53] Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, a country which has been involved in fighting an Islamist insurgency in its former colony since 2013, called for power to be returned to civilians and for arrested leaders to be freed.[54] The United States cut off military aid to Mali on 21 August 2020.[55]
On 7 September 2020 at a summit in Niamey, Niger, regional bloc ECOWAS gave the Malian military rulers a deadline of 15 September to appoint a new civilian President and Prime Minister.[60]
^"Calls for calm as Mali gov't criticised for response to protests". Al Jazeera English. 13 July 2020. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020. Bloody protests broke out in the capital, Bamako, on Friday and Saturday, with reports saying security forces fired live rounds during clashes with demonstrators, some of whom had occupied state buildings. [...] A senior official at an emergency department of a major hospital in Bamako was quoted by AFP news agency as saying 11 people died and 124 were injured since Friday.
^"Official Statement 054 - Attempted coup d'état in Mali". exteriores.gob.es. Spanish Foreign Ministry. 19 August 2020. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020. The Government of Spain is following with great concern the events that have unfolded today in the cities of Katy and Bamako in Mali.
