BAMAKO: Mali’s military-led government has arrested two generals and a French national, accusing them of participating in an alleged plot to destabilize the West African nation, according to a government statement and state-owned media.
Mali has endured over a decade of turmoil marked by Islamist insurgencies in its arid north along with political instability that culminated in a series of coups in 2020 and 2021 that brought current president General Assimi Goita to power.
Sources told Reuters earlier this week that more than 30 soldiers and military officials had been taken into custody on suspicion of attempting to destabilize Goita’s government.
Mali’s ministry of territorial administration, in a statement released late on Thursday, said those arrested included Yann Vezilier, a French citizen.
France’s once close relationship with its former colonies in West Africa’s Sahel region has soured in recent years as military officers have overthrown civilian governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
