The Mali military junta has released the ousted President Ibrahim Keita, nine days after a successful coup against the 75-year-old president.
Mr Keita was said to be held outside Bamako, the country’s capital, alongside Boubou Cisse, his prime minister, and some other high-ranking government officials after the coup.
But on Thursday, the military junta called the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) said Keita had been released and is currently at his residence in the Sebenikoro district of Bamako.
“President IBK is free in his movements, he’s at home,” Djibrila Maiga, a spokesman for the junta, reportedly said.
The military junta had asked for a stay in power for three years and the lifting of sanctions placed on Mali but ECOWAS said it would only accept a transitional government with a civilian or retired army officer in charge for a maximum of one year.
