Mali’s coup leader wrests back control of the government

The military’s announcement on the state broadcaster Tuesday came a day after President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were arrested by soldiers.

The man who ousted Mali’s president from power last year regained control of the West African country Tuesday by deposing the president and prime minister of the transitional government, a move France decried as another coup d’etat. While Col. Assimi Goita pledged to go ahead with holding new elections in 2022 as previously promised, his display of force casts doubt on whether the vote will go ahead without significant interference by the junta that overthrew the last democratically elected president last August. The move also raised concerns that the new political unrest could further destabilize efforts to control Mali’s long-running Islamic insurgency. The United Nations now spends some $1.2 billion annually on a peacekeeping mission in Mali and France’s military has spent eight years trying to stabilize its former colony amid the ongoing threat.