Mali: Bah N'Daw and Moctar Ouane are no longer under house arrest

The former president of the Transition Bah N'Daw (right) alongside Colonel Goïta in Bamako on September 25, 2020. AP

Text by: David Baché

3 min

In Mali, the former president of the Transition Bah N'Daw and the former Prime Minister Moctar Ouane are no longer under house arrest.

It is a press release from the local Transition monitoring committee that indicated this Friday.

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The announcement was made by the local Transition Monitoring Committee made up of representatives in Mali from the ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations mission in the country which welcomes "

the government's decision to lift all the restrictive measures

”imposed on the two former leaders, who were no longer free of their movements since May 24, the date of the second military coup led by Colonel Assimi Goita, since then President of the Transition.

It had therefore been more than three months since all the partners of the Malian state demanded the end of their placement under house arrest.

The former president of the Transition Bah N'Daw and the former Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were certainly at home, and no longer at the Kati military camp where they had been forcibly taken after the new coup of May 24, but their home was permanently guarded by armed soldiers.

The two men had the right neither to go out,

nor to receive who they wanted.

A procedure before ECOWAS

The two former leaders had therefore taken a lawyer - who was not authorized to meet them -

and initiated proceedings before the ECOWAS Court of Justice.

Which demanded that Bamako communicate to him, no later than this Sunday, August 28, all the elements that could justify the house arrest of Bah N'Daw and Moctar Ouane.

“

This complaint scared them,

” explains a source very closely involved in the case, who also affirms that the Malian authorities had requested an additional period of one month to respond to this request, a deadline refused. 

Asked by RFI, the Malian presidency declined to comment. 

According to those around them, the former president of the Transition Bah N'Daw has decided to move into new accommodation.

The former Prime Minister Moctar Ouane remains at his home, but this time the security of the premises will be his responsibility, with in particular private guards, funded by the Malian state.

After welcoming this announcement, the Local Transition Monitoring Committee reiterated its support for the Transition process.

A visit by ECOWAS mediator for Mali, Goodluck Jonathan, is scheduled for next week.

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