For months now, West African country , Mali has been gripped by a political crisis that has sparked the country’s worst unrest in years, as a protest movement galvanised by a disputed election pushed for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign.
Keita said Wednesday he had stepped down to avoid “bloodshed” after he was detained in a military coup, whose leaders pledged new elections.
It would be recalled that On August 18, rebel soldiers seized a military base outside Malian capital, Bamako and took Keita and Prime Minister Cisse into custody and drove them to the military base even as they were cheered on by crowds gathered in the capital.
In the meantime , the ECOWAS has condemns the coup and in response, has pledges a wide range of retaliatory actions, including financial sanctions.
The ousted President Keita had appeared in a state television broadcast soon after midnight coup and declared dissolution of the government and national assembly, and announces that he has resigned as President of Mali to avoid “bloodshed.”
The coup leaders had also appeared on national television hours later to pledge a political transition and new elections which according to their spokesman would happen within a “reasonable time”.
