More on the coup in Mali -

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According to The Africa Report, "The junta that took power in Mali proposed on 23 August to the ECOWAS delegation a three-year transition, led by a military officer." The junta agreed to release President Keita, and said that Prime Minister Boubou Cissé (who placed second in the presidential elections of 2003, 2013, and 2018) was being held in a secure resident in Bamako. 

Keita had won re-election in 2018, but there has been ongoing discontent. As was the case in the 2012 coup, some of this dissatisfaction arises from the lack of security in the north, where there has been ongoing violence that sometimes spills over into Bamako, which caused Keita's popularity to plummet. A rally of thousands, organized by an anti-Keita coalition, M5-RFP, that has been organizing rallies against the president for months, celebrated the coup. A smaller pro-Keita rally was dispersed by the police. 

As described by The Republic, "ECOWAS leaders have suspended Mali’s membership, closed its borders with the country and said that financial sanctions would be imposed against the junta leaders."


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