The days following the coup saw international actors condemning the actions of the coup leaders and demanding that Keita be reinstated as president. I still remember that the Place de l’Indépendence (downtown Bamako) was crowded just a few hours after the coup-a way for people to manifest their support to the military,” he says. The coup happened as if to free Malians from a bad governance. Particularly in Bamako, we were convinced that the team of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation then. He was sitting in his home in Bamako when news of the coup came through, “Most Malian people were not surprised to see this coup happen after several months of social and political instability and protests across the country. Like Traoré, business consultant Kalilou Malick was not surprised by the actions of the army. “There was jubilation, people were happy, the blow to the president was expected, because the situation had been tense between those in power and the demonstrators who demanded the departure of the president.” He says people were out cheering on the army, many ecstatic. On 19 of August, Keita announced his resignation on television, adding, “I wish no blood to be shed to keep me in power.”īamako-based photographer and blogger Ousmane Traoré went out to take photographs on the day of the coup as well as on the following day. This followed months of widespread protests that saw people take to the streets demanding Keïta’s resignation critics blamed him and his administration for the country’s economic and security woes. On 18 August 2020, news emerged from Mali that soldiers had detained the country’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) and Prime Minister Boubou Cissé. I spoke to people in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea about exactly what happened on the day of the coup and what life has been like since then. So what is it really like when a coup unfolds in your country? While many of us followed the news from abroad, awaiting updates while going about our daily business, for those in these countries the unfolding events were not just headlines they were the lived reality. In all three countries, announcements that their respective armies had taken control left their populations and regional and international authorities anxiously awaiting news of the whereabouts of the leaders that had been removed from power. Together with Burkina Faso, fellow West African nations Mali and Guinea have also made headlines over the last two years following military coups d’états, the worst nightmare of many a leader. This is the country’s second coup this year. Within 24 hours it was announced that the country’s military leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba had been removed from power and Captain Ibrahim Traoré was now in charge. On Friday 30 September there were reports of gunfire in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |