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| President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita addresses his supporters on August 10, 2018 in Bamako. He has rejected as speculation talk of a military coup after recent jihadist attacks left dozens of soldiers dead. |
Bamako, MALI
Malian President
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Sunday rejected as speculation talk of a military
coup after recent jihadist attacks left dozens of soldiers dead.
Keita said lessons would be learned after 38
soldiers were killed in two attacks last week near the border with Burkina
Faso, a death toll that observers say is probably an underestimate.
"No military coup will prevail in Mali,
let it be said," the president said in remarks recorded Saturday and
released on Sunday. "And I don't think this is on the agenda at all and
cannot worry us," he added.
"We are at war," the president said
after the attacks last Monday and Tuesday in the towns of Boulkessy and
Mondoro, which evoked memories of a 2012 army coup in the former French colony.
"What happened at Boulkessy could
unfortunately happen again," Keita said.
The assailants used heavily armed vehicles in
the raids on the two military camps, during which the government said troops
killed 15 jihadists.
The jihadists made off with a large quantity of
arms, ammunition and equipment -- local media said about 20 vehicles were
captured, including some mounted with machine guns.
Sources said Malian special forces and foreign
allies, including French warplanes and helicopters, helped to quash the attacks.
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