Former Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was released Thursday by the junta which overthrew him last week, after seven years in power in this country at war against the jihadists, the military announced. The National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), set up by the military to lead the country, "informs national and international public opinion that ex-President Ibrahim Boubakar Keïta has been released and is currently in his residence, "he said on Facebook.
"He's at home"
"President IBK is free to move around, he is at home," Captain Djibrila Maïga, a spokesman for the junta, told AFP. The National Committee for the Salvation of the People set up by the military to lead the country, "informs national and international public opinion that ex-President Ibrahim Boubakar Keïta has been released and is currently at his residence", announced the CNSP on Facebook. A member of his family said on condition of anonymity that Mr. Keïta had returned to his residence in the Sebenikoro district during the night.
After months of demonstrations in the country, soldiers, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, arrested the Prime Minister and President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Tuesday, August 18 afternoon, at his home, before he announced his resignation at night on TV. Keïta, commonly referred to as Malians by the acronym IBK and who has become in the eyes of many of them the main culprit for the serious security, political and economic crisis in which their country has been sinking for years, had resigned, saying not to no other choice to avoid bloodshed. He had been held since in a place not officially disclosed.