WEST African leaders led by former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, have arrived Mali to fast-track the return to civil rule in the country.
While in Mali, Jonathan, who is ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, is expected to meet with Col. Assimi Goita, leader of the National Committee and ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita with members of his team.
Following the take over of the country by the military, 75-year-old Keita had in a broadcast, said, “If it pleased certain elements of our military to decide this should end with their intervention, do I really have a choice? I submit to it, because I don’t want any bloodshed.”
Keita is still being held with Prime Minister Boubou Cisse in Kati, a military base northwest of Bamako where the coup took place.
The coup is Mali’s second in eight years and the rebels have promised to conduct elections “within a reasonable time.”
