Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, former president deposed after a military coup d'état, has moved to the Persian Gulf country to receive medical care

United Arab Emirates welcomes former President of Mali after the coup d'état

photo_camera AP/LUDOVIC MARIN - Former President of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keita

Following the coup d'état in Mali on 18 August, the momentary disappearance of the president and his resignation from office, the health of 75-year-old Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has reached its limit. According to Radio France International sources he was admitted to a clinic in Bamako this week and this Sunday has travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The former president has suffered a stroke and will remain in the Arab country in the same hospital where he was operated on last year due to a similar attack. 

The transfer has been a decision weighed among many and finally taken as a matter of urgency since the president's state of health could not wait. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the military junta currently governing Mali, which calls itself the National Council for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), had been negotiating his departure for days. Together with pressure from the United Nations mission in the country (MINUSMA), which was in favour of the former president leaving the territory as soon as possible, this Sunday he was able to travel with his wife, his doctor and another relative.

The initial agreement established that the former president should spend at least a month in Bamako before travelling abroad. But the deadlines have been speeded up after Keita's clinical admission. Following the news, the CNPS accepted the departure of the former president on a medical plane on the condition that he return if required.

Throughout the summer, Mali has experienced great instability with mass protests and street riots by demonstrators demanding the resignation of the president, who has held office since 2013. At the end of the month, on 18 August, a coup d'état was staged almost without violence and with popular support which, more than disturbances, staged several street celebrations in support of the insurgent army.

This is the fourth coup d'état in Mali since its independence from France in 1960. The military has previously taken power in 1968, 1991 and 2012, the last coup being the one that opened the country's doors to Jihadist groups, one of the biggest threats today.

Accelerated departure in full negotiations and political restructuring

On the same day that Keita was preparing to leave the country, meetings began to clarify how the transition process that will lead Mali to elections and a new government will be carried out. The absence from this event of the military man Assimi Goita, the new and self-proclaimed acting head of state of the country by the CNPS, was surprising.

But the vice-president of the military junta, Malick Diaw, was present and has assured that the agenda of these meetings will progress towards "rebuilding the country by guaranteeing a democratic process". 

Transition negotiations have begun and are being conducted with various Malian political and civilian representatives. They include political parties of all tendencies, civil society organisations, trade unions, associations and press groups, as well as the movements that signed the Algiers Agreements (a Tuareg rebel movement from the north of the country that emerged in 2006). 

Members of the opposition group 5 June Movement (M5-RFP), one of the key political actors in the struggle against the previous government and which openly supported the coup, have also been invited.

International pressure urges the CNSP to resolve the transition in a rapid and transparent manner. The military junta understands the urgency of the moment and Vice President Diaw told the Malian press that "time is pressing and we must act quickly". 

International sanctions list extended for Mali

ECOWAS is an economic and regional bloc of fifteen African countries to which Mali belongs. Following the coup d'état, the countries of this coalition issued a series of sanctions including a partial economic embargo and the closure of borders with the countries bordering the bloc. All ECOWAS decision-making bodies in the country were also suspended. 

To lift all these sanctions, the bloc has insisted to the insurgent military junta that a transitional government led by civilians be formed for a year. The sanctions "will be gradually lifted depending on the implementation of the decisions", explained Niger's head of state, Mahamadou Issoufou, the rotating president of the regional bloc.

In addition, last August the United Nations Security Council renewed for another year the sanctions imposed in 2017 on any person or institution that "hinders progress in the implementation of the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement in Mali signed in 2015". These measures include a travel ban and an international assets freeze. 

The UN Security Council sanctions were born out of the regional conflict that broke out in the northeast of the country in 2012. In 2015 they succeeded in signing Peace Agreements on which these measures were based. But the country has not yet been able to make these agreements a reality as it is experiencing constant changes of violent actors in the territory.

Mali suffers from constant inter-community violence and frequent Jihadist attacks, especially in the north and central area of the country. The presence of international armies (United Nations and France) as radical Islamist groups (Boko Haram) is pitting foreign military forces against each other within Mali's borders, leaving a picture of national insecurity that is very difficult to manage.

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