Soldiers arrest Mali President Ibrahim Boubakar Keïta

Mali President Ibrahim Boubakar Keïta was on Tuesday August 18, arrested by mutinying soldiers. 

A  government spokesman who confirmed the development told BBC that Prime Minister Boubou Cissé was also been arrested despite earlier appeals for “brotherly dialogue”.

The coup which has been condemned by regional group ECOWAS, the African Union and former colonial power France, began with gunfire at a key military camp near the country’s capital, Bamako on Tuesday morning.

LIB reported earlier that disgruntled junior officers detained commanders and took control of the Kati camp, about 15km (nine miles) from Bamako amid protests led by populist imam Mahmoud Dicko which demanded the President’s resignation. 

Though Keita won a second term in elections in 2018, there is widespread anger over corruption, the mismanagement of the economy and the worsening security situation with jihadist and communal violence on the increase.