European leaders have "condemned in the strongest terms the arrest of the President of Mali and his Prime Minister", which constitutes "a coup d'etat in the coup d'état, unacceptable", Emmanuel Macron told the after a European summit, Tuesday 25 May.
"We are ready in the coming hours to take targeted sanctions" against the protagonists, he added at a press conference.
A little earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, had also denounced a "coup".
"We demand the release of the authorities whose security must be guaranteed and the immediate resumption of the normal course of the transition," said Jean-Yves Le Drian during a question-and-answer session at the National Assembly.
"I would like to point out that if by chance there was not a return to order in the transition, we would take immediate targeting measures against the military and political leaders who are hindering the transition."
With AFP and Reuters
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