coup<\/a> that deposed Mali\u2019s democratically elected leader this week. There are concerns that the political upheaval will divert attention away from the more than seven-year international fight against Islamic extremists who have used previous power vacuums in Mali to expand their terrain.<\/p>\nSoldiers from the junta calling itself the National Committee for the Salvation of the People made a brief appearance Friday at Bamako\u2019s Independence Square, where they thanked the crowd of thousands for their support. \u201cWe have come to complete your work. This is your struggle,\u201d Col. Major Isma\u00ebl Wagu\u00e9 told the demonstrators, before introducing two more officials in the junta\u2019s leadership \u2014 a first vice president and a third vice president.<\/p>\n
in contrast to fierce condemnation abroad at the overthrow of an elected leader, many in the square were jubilant and shouted their approval when the junta came to pay tribute for the public\u2019s part in the drama.<\/p>\n
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union, the European Union, and some other world leaders have condemned the coup, calling for the release of Keita and the detainees.<\/p>\n
A delegation, led by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan from ECOWAS, is said to be expected to arrive soon in Bamako with the plans \u201cto negotiate the immediate release of the president and also ensure the restoration of constitutional government.\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have come here to thank you, to thank the Malian public for its support,\u201d the junta\u2019s spokesman, Ismael Wague, told the crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe merely completed the work that you began and we recognize ourselves in your fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keita\u2019s downfall came after months of protests, staged by a loose coalition called the June 5 Movement, that was fuelled by anger at failures to stem a bloody jihadist insurgency, revive the economy and tackle corruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am overjoyed! We won. We came here to thank all the people of Mali because this is the victory of the people,\u201d said opposition supporter Mariam Cisse, 38.<\/p>\n
A retired soldier, Ousmane Diallo, 62, said, \u201cWe are here to celebrate the victory of the people. Just the victory of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIBK has failed,\u201d he said, using a common reference to the ousted president by his initials. \u201cThe people are victorious.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, he cautioned, \u201cthe military should not be thinking now that they can stay in power.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thousands of Malians in Mali Rejoice Over President Ibrahim Keita Downfall Thousands marched Friday in the streets of Mali\u2019s capital to celebrate the overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, They rallied three days after mutinying troops seized the country\u2019s unpopular 75-year-old president, forced him to announce his resignation and unveiled a junta that would rule […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2],"tags":[142,141,101],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Malian-Soldier.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pci3ty-6T","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}