Mali’s military has been locked in conflict with Islamist militias in the desertous northern provinces since NATO’s destruction of Libya in 2011 destabilized the Sahara region. Former colonial ruler France joined Mali’s fight in 2013, but as the war drags on it has become increasingly unpopular, especially as civilian deaths at French hands mount.
In the wake of a coup d’etat by the Malian military last week, the African Union has voted to suspend Mali and has threatened sanctions against the Sahelian nation if a civilian-led government is not restored. This follows a similar decision on Sunday by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
A similar move was made in August 2020 after the Malian military carried out a coup against democratically-elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, but they dropped the suspension once a civilian-led government was created in early October.
Last week, Vice President Assimi Goita, who is a colonel in the Malian Army, had former Interim President Bah Ndaw, former Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, and former Defense Minister Souleymane Doucoure arrested and removed from office. Goita claimed they had violated the Transitional Charter by announcing a new cabinet that removed two other colonels as heads of the defense and security ministries without consulting with him first. Goita named himself as the new interim president on Friday and on Monday, Choguel Maiga as the new interim prime minister.
Former Defense Minister and retired Col. Maj. Bah N’Daw, right, is sworn into the office of transitional president, and Col. Assimi Goita, left, head of the junta that staged the Aug. 18 coup, is sworn into the office of transitional vice president, at a ceremony in the capital Bamako, Mali, Friday, Sept. 25, 2020.
From the beginning, the civilian-military alliance was tenuous, with M5-RFP complaining in early September that the military was excluding it from most working groups on the creation of a transitional order that would return Mali to democratic government.
The Malian coup is just the latest to be carried out by troops trained by US Africa Command. As Sputnik reported, AFRICOM’s counterterrorism training programs are linked to at least seven coups d’etat in Africa since AFRICOM’s establishment in 2008. Goita has received extensive training from US Special Operations forces and has also trained in France and Germany, and the European Union has said it trained up to 90% of the Malian military. After the coup, Goita said the plan for 2022 elections had remain unchanged.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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