Mali junta frees ousted president Keita ahead of regional summit

Coup leaders in Mali have released President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and he has returned home, his representative said on Thursday, a potential sign of good faith a day ahead of a regional summit on the country’s political future.

A group of military officers has controlled Mali since Aug. 18, when they detained Keita at gunpoint and forced him to resign in a takeover foreign powers fear could further destabilise the West African nation and undermine a fight against Islamist militants in the wider Sahel region.

Keita’s release, nine days after he was ousted and detained, had been one of the demands of West Africa’s regional bloc, which sent a delegation to Mali at the weekend to discuss a timeline for transition to civilian rule with the coup’s leaders.

On Thursday morning, Keita was freed from where he was being held outside the city, a spokesman for the junta, Djibrilla Maiga, said.

The president’s former chief of staff, Mahamadou Camara, confirmed Keita had returned to his residence in Bamako’s Sebenikoro district.

“He has gone home. I do not know if he will travel,” Camara told Reuters, when asked if the deposed leader planned to leave the country.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali said its head had visited Keita at his home on Thursday.

The junta leaders say they had mutinied because the country was sinking into chaos and insecurity, which they blamed largely on the government. They have promised to oversee a move to elections within a “reasonable” time.

Reuters