Top Military Generals and other soldiers arrested in Mali over alleged coup plot to overthrow the President

It is alleged that a coup was recently about to erupt in the West African country of Mali. However, inside sources mention that it was foiled by intelligence sources that reached the president on time.

Mali’s military government has so far remained silent about the spate of arrests. However, unofficial reports said the soldiers are being detained for their alleged involvement in a coup plot that aimed to overthrow General Assimi Goita’s government.

Tensions are high in Mali’s capital, Bamako, after the arrests of dozens of soldiers in recent days, including two high-ranking generals. Although shops and offices stayed open on Tuesday, residents, including one journalist, told Al Jazeera the atmosphere there is uneasy.

The landlocked West African country, located in the semiarid Sahel region, is embroiled in a myriad of political and security crises. The recent arrests, analysts said, mark the first time the military is cracking down on soldiers within its ranks on suspicion of a coup.

Here’s what you need to know about the arrests:

Conflicting reports have emerged since the arrests over the weekend and on Monday.

Reports by the French news channel RFI put the number of arrested soldiers at least 50 while the Reuters news agency reported 36 to 40 soldiers have been detained.

Two generals are reportedly among them.

Abass Dembele, a former military governor of the northern region of Mopti, was arrested on Sunday morning in his home in Kati, a garrison town just outside Bamako, according to RFI.

Dembele is popular among Malian soldiers and has a reputation as an officer who often leads from the front. He was active in the northern war of 2012, a civil war that broke out after Tuareg separatists parlayed with armed groups to seize more than 60 percent of the country. The failure of the Malian army to push the rebels back prompted France to deploy thousands of soldiers.

Air force General Nema Sagara is another top official believed to be detained. Sagara is one of the few high-ranking female military officials in Mali and throughout the region. She is also one of the few female Malian officers to have been drafted into battle when she fought in the civil war of 2013.

What is happening in Mali?

Since 2012, Mali’s army has battled a swarm of armed groups in the north, including Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in the greater Sahara (ISGS).

The fighting has resulted in thousands of deaths while up to 350,000 people are currently displaced, according to Human Rights Watch. Several northern towns in rebel-held territory are under siege by the armed groups, limiting food, fuel and medical supplies. The groups operate in the Mali-Burkina Faso-Niger border area.

Promising to end the violence, then-Colonel Goita took power in two successive coups in 2020 and 2021. He was sworn in as transitional president in June 2021. Under his control, the country severed ties with its former colonizer, France, and thousands of French soldiers involved in the fight against the armed groups exited the country. The military rulers have since turned to Russian private mercenaries and military officials under the Wagner Group and Africa Corps. The army and the Russians have recorded wins but also heavy losses.

The military government has not put out an official statement stating the reasons for the arrests.

RFI quoted an unnamed Malian senior military officer close to the government as saying the soldiers were arrested because “they wanted to destabilize the transition,” referring to the military government, which calls itself a transitional government that is expected eventually to hand over power to a civilian administration.

Many of those arrested were confirmed by RFI to be members of the National Guard. The special unit is headed by Defence Minister and General Sadio Camara. In elite military circles in Bamako, Camara is increasingly seen as a rival to Goita although they were both part of the team of coup leaders who seized power. The rifts inside the military come as some of Goita’s policies have begun to irritate many, both in the military and among civilians.

This week’s arrests, some critics said, are the strongest sign yet that the military’s control is weakening from the inside. While Goita is the head of state, he appears not to have complete control over the armed forces, analysts said. Due to the reported cracks, the military government will want to project a strong image, hence its silence, Beverly Ochieng, a Sahel analyst with the intelligence firm Control Risks, told Al Jazeera.

“[These arrests] indicate some pronounced divisions,” Ochieng said. “Quite a few red lines have been crossed in recent months, and people are bound to be tired. It is likely that the military leadership will maintain and project a united front to downplay vulnerabilities and internal rivalries.”

Additional Source: Africa News, Aljazeera

The post Top Military Generals and other soldiers arrested in Mali over alleged coup plot to overthrow the President first appeared on Global African Times.