Mali military coup rulers release ousted President

Mali’s new military rulers have said that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was detained during the country’s coup on August 18, had been freed.

The junta, which calls itself the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), said on Facebook it was “informing public and international opinion that former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been released and is currently in his residence.”

Keita’s release had been a key demand of Mali’s neighbours and international organisations, including the African Union and European Union.

“President IBK is free in his movements, he’s at home,” a spokesman for the junta, Djibrila Maiga, told AFP news agency, referring to Keita by his initials, as many Malians do.

A Keita relative, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 75-year-old former leader had returned overnight to his house in the Sebenikoro district of the capital Bamako.

The junta leaders say they mutinied because the country was sinking into chaos and insecurity which they said was largely the fault of poor government.

They have promised to oversee a transition to elections within a “reasonable” amount of time.