Ousted Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita
BAMAKO, Sept 7 (NNN-AGENCIES0 — Ousted Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has left the country for medical treatment in Abu Dhabi, an adviser said, as talks about a transition back to civilian rule following last month’s military coup got off to a chaotic start.
Keita, 75, was hospitalised in the capital Bamako on Tuesday, six days after he was released from detention by the ruling junta, which seized power on Aug. 18.
His former chief of staff, Mamadou Camara, said that Keita left Bamako on Saturday evening aboard a plane chartered by the United Arab Emirates at the request of Mali’s ruling junta.
“It is a medical visit of between 10 and 15 days,” Camara said.
Keita’s medical condition is unclear. He had a benign tumour removed from his neck in 2016.
West African leaders, fearing the coup could set a precedent that would undermine their power and an international fight against militants in the wider Sahel region, initially insisted Keita be restored to power.
But they have since dropped that demand and are now calling for elections within a year: a timeline the junta, the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), has not committed to.
Talks about the shape of the transition period opened on Saturday with hundreds of representatives from the junta, political parties and civil society groups attending an opening ceremony in Bamako.
But less than an hour after it began, supporters of the M5-RFP coalition, which led mass demonstrations against Keita before the coup, began to protest, accusing the junta of excluding them from most working groups.
M5-RFP supporters in the conference hall shouted down the moderator onstage, bringing proceedings to a halt.
The moderator later announced that the M5-RFP would be able to participate in all of the working groups, which calmed the coalition’s supporters and allowed the event to resume.
The talks, which are also being held in regional capitals across Mali, are scheduled to continue on Sunday and then resumed again later this week.
International powers fear the ousting of Keita in a military coup will continue destabilise Mali
Separately, two French military personnel were killed while on an operation in Mali on Saturday when an improvised explosive device destroyed their armoured vehicle, the French Presidency said in PARIS.
According to the statement, a third soldier was injured in the blast, which took place in the Tessalit region of Northern Mali.
The soldiers were part of France’s Barkhane military operations in Mali against rebel fighters.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised “the courage and determination of the French military deployed in the Sahel region” and called for setting up without delay a “civilian political transition” in Mali.
International powers fear the ousting of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in a military coup on Aug 18 could further destabilise the West African nation and undermine the fight against insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Daesh in the wider Sahel region. — NNN-AGENCIES
