The junta that has overtaken power in Mali wants a military-led transitional body that will rule the country for three years and has agreed to release the detained President, a source in a visiting West African delegation and the rebel soldiers disclosed on Sunday.
Last week’s coup was Mali’s second military intervention in eight years. The coup followed months of protests calling for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign as the public is discontent with his government, citing collapsed economic and a brutal Islamic insurgency.
A source in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) delegation on condition of anonymity disclosed to the AFP after talks with the junta. Saying, “The junta has affirmed that it wants a three-year transition to review the foundations of the Malian state. This transition will be directed by a body led by a soldier, who will also be head of state,”
“The government will also be predominantly composed of soldiers” under the proposal, the source said.
A junta official confirmed to the AFP that “the three-year transition would have a military president and a government mostly composed of soldiers”.
The source and the official noted that the soldiers have agreed to free Keita, with other detained political leaders since the coup on Tuesday, adding that he would be able to return to his home in Bamako, the capital.
The source and the official added that the soldiers have agreed to free Keita, detained along with other political leaders since the coup on Tuesday, and he would be able to return to his home in the capital Bamako.
“And if he wants to travel abroad for (medical) treatment, that is not a problem,” said the source in the ECOWAS said.
It added that the Prime Minister, Boubou Cisse, who has been detained with Keita at the military base outside Bamako, where the coup started, would be moved to a more secured residence in the city.
While lots of international condemnation had followed the coup, thousands of opposition supporters celebrated the coup in the streets of Bamako.
The junta said, “completed the work” of the protesters and has vowed to stage elections “within a reasonable time”.
Members of the ECOWAS had called for Keita to be reinstated, adding that the purpose of the visit of ECOWAS delegation was to help ensure “ensure the immediate return of constitutional order”.
Tuesday’s coup had raised concerns over regional stability as jihadist insurgency in the country had threatened countries like Niger and Burkina Faso.
ECOWAS negotiation with the junta was set to resume on Monday in Bamako.
“We have reached a number of agreements but we have not reached agreement on all the issues,” Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan, head of the delegation, told reporters as Sunday, adding that the discussions drew to a close.
Both the regional delegation and the military officers “want the country to move on” after the coup, he said. “We are just discussing the way forward.”
Jonathan met Keita on Saturday and said that he seemed “very fine”.
