African Union condemns arrest of Malian president

Aug 18, 2020

Mutineering soldiers in Mali on Tuesday detained President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, one of their leaders said.

The African Union on Tuesday lashed the arrest of Malian political leaders by mutineering troops and demanded they be freed immediately.

"I forcefully condemn the arrest of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Prime Minister (Boubou Cisse) and other members of the Malian government, and call for their immediate release," the chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said in a tweet in French.

Mutineering soldiers in Mali on Tuesday detained President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, one of their leaders said.

"We can tell you that the president and the prime minister are under our control," the leader, who requested anonymity, told AFP. 

He added that the pair had been "arrested" at Keita's residence in the capital Bamako. 

Earlier, soldiers launched a mutiny from the nearby garrison town of Kati.

Another military official, who also declined to be named, said the president and prime minister were in an armoured vehicle en route to Kati.

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