MALI’S interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane have announced their resignations after being arrested in an apparent second military coup in nine months.
Baba Cisse, Special Adviser to the last year’s coup leader Assimi Goita, told the AFP that the leaders resigned ‘before the mediator’ on Wednesday.
Cisse said negotiations were underway for their release and the formation of a new government in the poor Sahel country.
A member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediation mission, who pleaded not to be named, also confirmed their resignations.
The team travelled early Wednesday to the Kati military camp around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the capital Bamako to visit the two detainees.
Goita, who holds the rank of vice president in the transitional government, accused Ndaw and Ouane of failing to consult him on a reshuffle.
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Ndaw and Ouane, who had been heading the interim government with the declared aim of restoring full civilian rule within 18 months, were arrested and detained by soldiers at the Kati Military Camp near Bamako, on Monday.
Their detention has also triggered condemnation by many, including the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who had called for calm and their unconditional release.
The Nigerian government, United Nations, African Union, ECOWAS, the European Union and the United States had issued statements to condemn their detention and demanded their unconditional release.
The UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting later Wednesday at the request of former colonial power France and others.
In August last year, the military toppled the democratically elected government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita after months of anti-government protests in the country.
An interim and a transitional government was constituted following the intervention of ECOWAS led by former Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan.
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