Mali Army arrest President, Prime Minister
Military officials in Mali have reportedly arrested the country’s president and prime minister just months into their tenure.
President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, plus Defense Minister Souleymane Doucoure, were then taken to a military base outside the capital, Bamako, foreign media including Reuters and Agence France Presse reported.
The U.S. Embassy in Mali has since warned its citizens to avoid unnecessary travel in Bamako because the embassy “received reports of increased military activity” in the city.
The news closely follows a reshuffle of the country’s government, in which two members of the military junta that seized power in an August coup were replaced.
The military overthrew former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last August.
Ndaw and Ouane are serving an 18-month term as the country transitions and prepares for new elections.
Mali had been mired in months of protests led by the main opposition party in 2020 over an economic crisis, corruption and Keita’s failure to quell an eight-year-old Islamic insurgency that gained a foothold in central Mali. Anger also brewed over the results of 31 disputed legislative races held la