Mali Junta Leader Declares Himself President
Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali’s head of the former junta in the West African country, has declared himself the transitional president after stripping the country’s interim president and former prime minister of their powers.
President Bah Ndaw and the Prime Minister Moctar Ouane have now been released from military detention.
They were taken to a military base late on Monday in what was seen as Mali’s second military coup in nine months.
The move followed a cabinet reshuffle in which two army officers involved in the previous coup lost their jobs.
Col Goïta complained that the ex-president had failed to consult him about the new cabinet.
The situation in Mali today is said to be tense but calm.
