Leaders around the worldnbsphave called for constitutional order to be restored in Mali after a military coup plunged the country into f
Leaders around the world have called for constitutional order to be restored in Mali after a military coup plunged the country into fresh political crisis amid fears that the president’s fall could further destabilize the former French colony and west Africa’s entire Sahel region. International condemnation was swift and wide-ranging on Wednesday, hours after soldiers ousted Mali’s president and government. In his first official reaction since President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was forced out, chairman of the African Union and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa condemned what he described the unconstitutional change of government. Ramaphosa called for the immediate return to civilian rule and for the military to return to their barracks. On Tuesday afternoon, rebel soldiers took Keita and his prime minister, Boubou Cisse into custody and drove the pair to the outskirts of the capital Bamako to the Kati military base — notorious as the venue for a mutiny in 2012 of mid-ranking officers.
