The junta that seized power in Mali has proposed a three year military rule, while agreeing to release ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

On 18 August 2020, elements of the Malian Armed Forces began a mutiny which led to the arrest of president Keita and top government officials.

Soldiers on pick-up trucks stormed the Soundiata military base in the town of Kati, where gunfire was exchanged before weapons were distributed from the armory and senior officers arrested.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced his resignation to avoid bloodshed after he was detained in a military coup, whose leaders pledged new elections to resolve a spiralling political crisis in the fragile West African nation.

According to a source in a visiting West African delegation, the Junta which seized power, wants a military-led transitional body to rule for three years.

“The junta has affirmed that it wants a three-year transition to review the foundations of the Malian state. This transition will be directed by a body led by a soldier, who will also be head of state,” a source in the ECOWAS delegation in capital Bamako told AFP.

“The government will also be predominantly composed of soldiers” under the junta’s proposal, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The source added that the junta has agreed to free president Keita, and he will be able to return to his home in Bamako.

Prime minister Boubou Cisse, who has been detained with Keita at a military base outside the capital where the coup began, would be moved to a secure residence in the city, the source said.

However, ECOWAS insists on democratic rule;

“ensure the immediate return of constitutional order”.

Tuesday’s coup was Mali’s second in eight years, and has heightened concern over regional stability as its jihadist insurgency that now threatens neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.