Mali’s coup leader wrests back control of the government

Assimi Goita fired the president and prime minister of the transitional government, a move France decried as a coup d’etat

The display of force casts doubt on whether the promised 2022 election will go ahead without significant interference by the junta

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Mali police are seen outside the Bourse du Travail, where striking workers gathered to protest the arrest of President Bah N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane in Bamako on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Published: 1:29am, 26 May 2021Updated: 9:08pm, 26 May 2021

Mali’s former coup leader Assimi Goita took control of the West African country again Tuesday after firing the president and prime minister of the transitional government, a move France decried as a coup d’etat.

While Goita pledged to go ahead with holding new elections in 2022 as previously promised, his display of force casts doubt on whether the vote will go ahead without significant interference by the junta that overthrew the last democratically elected president last August.

The move also raised concerns that the new political unrest could further destabilise efforts to control Mali’s long-running Islamic insurgency. The United Nations now spends some US$1.2 billion annually on a peacekeeping mission in Mali and France’s military has spent eight years trying to stabilise its former colony amid the ongoing threat.

French President Emmanuel Macron described the government takeover as a “coup d’etat” and warned of repercussions.

Mali junta leader Assimi Goita (left) with the new transition president Bah N’Daw (centre) and Colonel Malick Diaw of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People in Bamako in September 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE

“We are prepared to take targeted sanctions on the protagonists,” he said in a tweet.