Mali president resigns to ‘avoid bloodshed’

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, president of Mali, has resigned from office — hours after he was arrested by mutinying soldiers.

Keita said he resigned to avoid bloodshed, announcing the dissolution of the government and the national assembly.

“If it pleased certain elements of our military to decide this should end with their intervention, do I really have a choice?” he said in a state broadcast.

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

In June, opponents asked Keita, who had spent two out of his five-year second term in office, to step down.

A resistance group, M5, also insisted that the constitutional court must be dissolved before peace can return to the country.

The unrest was ticked off by the nullification of results of 31 parliamentary seats in the country’s elections and the awarding of victory to some candidates, which the resistance group said was at the behest of Keita.

On July 10, riots led to the killing of some protesters by security agents.

Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) envoy mediating on peace in the country before the soldiers struck.

The military struck at a time leaders of the sub-region were holding talks on how to break the impasse.