Mali Says It Thwarts Coup, Arrests French National, Soldiers

Mali’s military government said it foiled a coup attempt and arrested several senior army officers and a French national suspected of plotting to destabilize the junta.

The “conspiracy was thwarted,” Minister for Security and Civil Protection General Daoud Aly Mohammedine said in a statement on state TV ORTM. Eleven people were taken into custody on Aug. 1, he said.

Those taken into custody included General Abass Dembele, a former governor of Mali’s central Mopti region, the junta said late Thursday.

Mali’s military leadership, in power since 2021, has detained opponents and mining executives, banned political parties and moved closer to Russia, Turkey and Iran, shunning traditional Western allies including the US and France.

The announcement follows the arrests of two former prime ministers — Moussa Mara, who criticized the junta for deepening the country’s debt through regional borrowing, and Choguel Kokalla Maiga, who was detained on charges of embezzlement of public funds.

Mali and regional allies Niger and Burkina Faso have been battling a sprawling Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands since 2012.