3 yıl önce

Mali disbands junta, five months after Keita's ouster

National Committee for the Salvation of the People is dissolved, says a government decree, a decision that comes after more than five months of president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's removal in a coup.

AP

Mali's junta briefly governed the country after the August 18 coup and formally remained in place even after the putschists handed power to a civilian interim government.

Mali has officially disbanded its military junta, according to a government decree, more than five months after the army deposed president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

"The National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) is dissolved," said the decree on Tuesday.

The junta briefly governed the country after the August 18 coup and formally remained in place even after the putschists handed power to a civilian interim government, which raised questions about the military's continuing influence.

Young army officers launched the coup after weeks of anti-Keita protests, fuelled partly by frustrations over perceived government corruption, and the president's inability to end a conflict that has raged since 2012.

Under the threat of international sanctions, the officers handed power between September and October to a caretaker government, which is meant to rule for 18 months before staging elections.

But some have raised doubts about the government's ability to stick to its timetable so soon after the coup and amid conflict.

Regional bloc's embargo

Mali's military has also retained a tight grip on the interim government.

Coup leader Colonel Assimi Goita is the interim vice president.

The 15-member Economic Community of the West African States, which has mediated Mali's political strife, levied a trade and financial embargo on Mali after the coup.

The 15-nation bloc only lifted the sanctions after the military junta on October 5 handed power to a caretaker civilian government, which is meant to rule for 18 months before staging democratic elections.

The junta had initially pushed for the interim government to last for three years.

The bloc urged the interim government on January 12 to disband the junta.