Goodluck Jonathan to lead West African leaders to Mali on Saturday

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, will lead other West African leaders to coup-torn Mali on Saturday “to help the search for solutions”, AFP reports.

Mali’s elected President, Ibrahim Keita, was overthrown on Tuesday by mutinying troops, who took him as well as Prime Minister Boubou Cisse and other senior officials into custody.

The coup has sent shockwaves around West Africa, sparking fears that one of the region’s most volatile states, and a front line in the fight against jihadism, could collapse.

Earlier on Tuesday before the coup, Jonathan while briefing President Buhari, said Mali’s main opposition group, M5, was adamant on its call for the resignation of Keita.

Keita, who later appeared in a state television broadcast on Wednesday, declared the dissolution of the government and National Assembly and said he had no choice but to resign with immediate effect.

“If it pleased certain elements of our military to decide this should end with their intervention, do I really have a choice? (I must) submit to it, because I don’t want any bloodshed,” the 75-year-old said.

The United Nations, African Union, Economic Community of West African States, amongst others, had since condemned the coup.