The man who tried to assassinate the president of the Malian transition died on Sunday while in police custody.
The author of the attack against Colonel Assimi Goita is “unfortunately deceased,” says the Malian government in a statement. The assailant, who appeared to be young and whose identity was not revealed, was quickly apprehended on Tuesday by the security services after the prayer of the Feast of the Sacrifice of Abraham (Eid-ul Adha) in the Grand Mosque of Bamako. He had attempted to slit the throat of the country’s transitional leader.
During the investigations “which revealed corroborative evidence,” his health “deteriorated” after he was admitted to the Gabriel Toure University Hospital (CHU) and then to the CHU du Point G, located in the Malian capital. “An autopsy was immediately ordered to determine the causes of his death,” the statement adds.
Furthermore, the government reassures “that his death is not an obstacle to the continuation of the investigation already underway at the level of the Prosecutor’s Office of the commune II (of Bamako), especially since the first clues collected and the information gathered indicate that it was not an isolated incident. This would mean that other people were involved.
Mali has been in a cycle of political uncertainty since the overthrow of elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) on the night of 18 to 19 August 2020 by the military, led by Colonel Assimi Goïta.
Until then vice-president of the transition, Colonel Assimi Goita pushed interim president Bah Ndaw to resign on 26 May 2021.
Together with his former Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and other personalities, they are still under house arrest by the military authorities. Recently, Assimi Goita promised the African Union (AU) to lift the restrictions on them.
During their fact-finding mission to Bamako in mid-July, the AU Peace and Security Council envoys hailed the “progress” made in the political situation in Mali. At the end of their visit, the new strongman in Bamako reiterated his commitment to respecting the 18-month transition that is expected to lead to the holding of general elections in February 2022.
ODL/cgd/fss/abj/APA