(KDRTV)-Even as the leaders of Tuesday`s military coup in Mali convoked talks with opposition leaders who were relieved after the ejection of President Ibrahim Boubacar, United Nations (UN) and Africa Union (AU) have condemned the mutiny by soldiers
The UN has joined the regional bodies such as ECOWAS to call for the liberation of president Keita, other high-profile government officials as well as recovery of the constitutional status
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However, the soldiers said they took the action to prevent the country from plunging into further crisis
The soldiers announced that they will set up a civilian government and has announced new elections
KDRTV understands that Mali has been confronted with several military coups and is currently battling to restrain jihadist and ethnic violence
At the same time, the AU has also suspended Mali reiterating that military coups were “something of the past which we cannot accept any more”.
“Whenever you have a crisis and the military people have a coup and say ‘we are responding to the will of the people’, this way of responding is not acceptable at all,” the AU’s Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui, told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.
So far, AU has suspended Mali and closed borders, halting financial flow to the country as well as removing it from decision-decision making bodies
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France who is a former colonizer of Mali and who is also leading fights against jihadist in the country also condemned the mutiny
The US secretary of State Mike Pompeo also took to social media to express his displeasure on the coup
The U.S. strongly condemns the August 18 mutiny in Mali. We join our international partners including the Economic Community of West African States and the @_AfricanUnion in denouncing these actions.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 19, 2020
