Mali: Rebel Soldiers Pledge Fresh Elections After President’s Resignation

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta  on Tuesday resigned as the President of Mali following a military coup in the West African country.

Naija News had reported earlier that Malian President and his Prime Minister, Boubou Cissé, were “arrested” late Tuesday afternoon in Bamako by mutiny Soldiers supporting the opposition.

Keita while speaking on a television broadcast after the coup, noted that he has no choice but to resign with immediate effect.

“If it pleased certain elements of our military to decide this should end with their intervention, do I really have a choice?” he said of the day’s events.

“(I must) submit to it, because I don’t want any bloodshed.”

It is unclear if Keita is still in custody at the Kati base.

The coup leaders while speaking on TV hours after Keita dissolved his cabinet and resign pledge a political transition and new elections within a “reasonable time”.

Malian Air Force deputy chief of staff Ismael Wague said he and his fellow officers had “decided to take responsibility in front of the people and of history”.