Mali's turmoil took a new turn last week when Assimi Goita, then serving as the vice president, ordered the arrest of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane following a dispute over a cabinet reshuffle, with French President Emmanuel Macron branding the developments on 24 May an unacceptable “coup within a coup”.
President Emmanuel Macron has weighed in on the latest developments in Mali, vowing to pull French troops out of the embattled West African nation if it takes steps toward radical Islamism, according to Le Journal du Dimanche.
As Mali is experiencing its second military coup in nine months, Macron underscored during a trip to Rwanda and South Africa last week that he had warned leaders in the west of the continent that the French government could not back a country “where there is no longer democratic legitimacy or transition”.
Macron was cited in an interview for the publication as saying:
Assimi Goita ,who masterminded the August 2020 coup d'etat that toppled democratically-elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, removed the interim president appointed to replace Keita earlier this week.
Former Interim President Bah Ndaw, former Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, and former Defence Minister Souleymane Doucoure were all arrested on 24 May and taken to a military base before being stripped of their offices. They were ultimately released on Thursday.
Macron who earlier slammed the events as a “coup within a coup”, in a reference to last year's…
