teleSUR – Keita’s release was one of the demands of international organizations including the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which send a group of mediators to negotiate a transitional government.
Coup leaders announced on Thursday that Mali’s former president President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, has been released, and he is currently at his residence.
The National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) spokesman Djibrila Maiga said news agency AFP that “President IBK is free in his movements, he’s at home.” The former president was freed nine days after his detention during a military coup.
Keita’s release was one of the demands by international organizations, including the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which send a group of mediators to negotiate a transitional government.
“The Head of MINUSMA, Mr. Annadif, accompanied by the director of #human rights of MINUSMA, visited this morning, August 27, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita at his residence in Sebenicoro. An interview followed the visit.”
The ECOWAS delegation confirmed to reporters that Keita does not intend to return to politics and that “he wants a quick transition to allow the country to return to civilian rule.”
Keita’s chief of staff, Mahamadou Camara, also confirmed that the former president was back at his house and the United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali said via twitter that they had visited Keita at his residence in Sebenicoro, located in the capital Bamako.
Following the negotiations with the ECOWAS, the CNSP told reporters that no agreement on a transitional government was reached. However, the ECOWAS will hold another extraordinary virtual summit on the socio-political situation in Mali as the 15-country block said they “condemn” the undemocratic change of government in Mali.
