Paul Ejime
On the eve an ECOWAS emergency summit on the crisis in Mali, Col. Assimi Goita, who led the August 2020 military coup and the “coup within a coup” last week has effectively assumed leadership of the country’s Transition government.
TThe he Mali Supreme Court affirmed Goita on the post after he took power on Wednesday following the sacking of former interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane.
Goita led the 18th August 2020 military coup that toppled the government of elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
He was subsequently named vice president of the transition government but said Ndaw and the prime minister were sacked for failing to consult him before appointing a new cabinet.
Ndaw, Ouane and the defence minister Souleymane Doucoure, have been released from a three-day detention following calls by ECOWAS and the international community.
Goita is expected to attend the ECOWAS Extraordinary summit taking place in Accra, Ghana on Sunday.
The meeting is part of efforts to restore constitutional order to Mali, troubled by chronic political instability and insecurity from terrorism, separatist and Islamist insurgencies.