junta - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Mali political parties request elections after junta shuns transition promise

POLITICAL parties in Mali have requested a time frame for presidential elections after the ruling junta failed to organise polls within a promised 24-month transition back to democracy. Mali has been under military rule since August 2020, the first of eight coups in West and Central Africa over four years, including in its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger. Regional blocs have been trying to negotiate transitions but the interim governments are dragging their feet. Mali's current junta seized power in a second 2021 coup and later promised to take 24 months from March 2022 to restore civilian rule, with a start date…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Chad opposition leader Masra appointed PM of transitional govt

NEWS

CHADIAN opposition leader Succes Masra who recently returned to the central African country following a deal with the ruling junta, was appointed as prime minister of the transitional government, the presidency said. His appointment could be seen as a move by the junta to appease the opposition after a constitutional referendum in which most opposition political parties have either called for a boycott or a "no" vote. Masra, a staunch opponent of the junta which seized power in April 2021, fled the country after dozens were killed and hundreds injured as security forces cracked down on demonstrations in the capital N'Djamena on…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

France plans to close embassy in Niger following coup, letter shows

NEWS

FRANCE is planning to close its embassy in Niger for an indefinite period as it is unable to carry out diplomatic tasks due to restrictions imposed by the ruling junta, a French embassy letter to its Niger staff dated Tuesday and seen by Reuters showed. Relations between Niger and France, its former colonial ruler, have broken down since army officers toppled President Mohamed Bazoum and seized power in a coup in July. Following the strategy of juntas in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, they ordered police to expel France's ambassador Sylvain Itte and called for the departure of French troops from its territory. France…

Oct

2023

By The African Mirror

Niger cuts 2023 budget by 40% as post-coup sanctions bite

BUSINESS

NIGER has cut its planned spending in 2023 by 40% because of international sanctions imposed after the military took power in a July coup, further hobbling the economy in one of the world's poorest countries, the junta said in a televised statement. The statement said this year's budget, initially forecast at 3.29 trillion CFA francs ($5.3 billion), was slashed to 1.98 trillion, without detailing where the cuts would fall. Soldiers from the presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and set up a transitional government, one of the recent coups in West Africa's Sahel region. The takeover prompted…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

West African leaders to hold summit on Guinea coup

NEWS

COOPER INVEEN WEST African leaders will meet on Thursday to decide how to respond to the coup in Guinea and how to pressure the junta leaders to return the country to constitutional rule, Ghana's foreign minister said. The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has condemned the putsch that overthrew President Alpha Conde, the third coup in West and Central Africa since April. The bloc suspended Guinea from the decision-making bodies of the organisation last week and sent a mission to meet the coup leaders on Friday. Ghanaian Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, who chairs the ECOWAS council…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Myanmar protesters decry arrests, beatings as junta fights for control

WORLD

MYANMAR security forces fired shots and arrested about 30 people at an anti-coup rally in the country's second-biggest city yesterday, witnesses said, as protesters defy a months-long crackdown by a junta struggling to impose order. Chaos erupted in Mandalay, a hotbed of anti-military sentiment, when plainclothes police emerged from vehicles minutes into a protest, firing guns and beating demonstrators who fell as hundreds fled, according to four witnesses, who said they saw about 30 people arrested. "There are no words to describe their cruelty," Aung Pyae Sone Phyo, 21, a protest leader, told Reuters. "They used enormous force to crack…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Mali negotiators back charter that could see soldier as interim president

NEWS

PAUL LORGERIE and TIEMOKO DIALLO MALI’S ruling junta pushed through a political charter on Saturday that could lead to the appointment of a soldier as interim president despite objections from the coalition that led anti-government protests before last month's coup. Approval for the roadmap, meant to chart the country's course after the August 18 coup that toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, came after three days of negotiations between the junta, political leaders and civil society groups. International powers, fearful that political instability will undermine a fight against Islamist militants across West Africa's Sahel region, have pushed for a swift transition…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

West Africa leaders say Mali junta must name a president by September 15

NEWS

BOUREIMA BALIMA WEST Africa's regional leaders have given the military junta in Mali until September 15 to name a transitional president and a prime minister, according to a statement read at the end of a summit on Monday. The heads of state of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said the president and prime minister, who will lead the transitional government, should be civilians. The bloc, seeking to keep pressure on the junta, maintained sanctions it had placed on Mali, but welcomed steps taken by the junta in the past week to start talks with Mali's political…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

West African bloc chairman calls for Mali junta’s cooperation

NEWS

BOUREIMA BALIMA The military junta in Mali must work with the West African regional bloc to ensure a swift return to civilian rule, Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Monday, opening a summit in which Mali's post-coup progress is high on the agenda. A group of army colonels has ruled Mali since ousting President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18. No consensus has yet been reached on the make-up and duration of a transitional government ahead of promised elections. The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is calling for a vote within a year, a timeline the junta,…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Mali talks end with no decision on transitional government

NEWS

TIEMOKO DIALLO and CHEICK DOUARA TALKS between West African mediators and Mali's military coup leaders have ended after three days of discussions without any decision on the make-up of a transitional government, a junta spokesman said. West Africa's regional bloc dispatched negotiators to Mali at the weekend in a bid to reverse President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's removal from power last week. But talks had focused on who would lead Mali and for how long, rather than the possibility of reinstating the president, diplomats said. The coup has raised the prospects of further political turmoil in Mali which, like other countries…