BAMAKO, (The Southern African Times) – The Local Transition Monitoring Committee in Mali demanded on Monday “the immediate and unconditional release” of Mali’s transitional President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane.
N’Daw and Ouane were taken by force to the Kati military camp following the transitional president’s announcement of his appointment of members of the government on the proposal of the prime minister.
In a joint press release published Monday night, the committee, composed of members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union, and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, expressed its deep “concern” over the situation in Mali and strongly condemned “the attempted coup de force” of detaining the transitional president, prime minister and some of their collaborators by military officers.
The committee also reaffirmed its “firm support” for the transitional authorities by demanding that the process of political transition resume and conclude on time after a 18-month interim period.
“The international community rejects in advance any act imposed by constraint, including forced resignations,” the statement said, adding that an ECOWAS delegation will arrive in the Malian capital on Tuesday.
Colonel Sadio Camara, former minister of defense and veterans affairs; Colonel Modibo Kone, former Minister of Security and Civil Protection; as well as influential members of the dissolved National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) that overthrew then President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, are not in the new government, which is the main reason for the president and prime minister’s detentions, said local media and observers.
