Mali’s ousted former president, Amadou Toumani Toure, returned to the country last Sunday from Senegal for the first time since a coup deposed him in 2012.
Mr. Amadou Toure flew into the capital, Bamako, the scene of his downfall on March 22, 2012, when mutinous soldiers overthrew the government and detained him.
The coup, which was led by army captain, Amadou Sanogo, toppled what had been heralded as one of the region’s most stable democracies, before the country’s northern territory was overrun by Islamist rebels allied with Al-Qaeda.
The former leader, who arrived with his family on board the presidential plane, was welcomed by the Prime Minister and Security Minister, along with hundreds of supporters at midday. He was led to the personal residence of President Ibrahim Keita for lunch.
Referring to the development, President Keita said the moment had arrived “for us to tell our brother, Amadou Toumani Toure, to return to Mali,” bur Mr. Toure had earlier told newsmen at the Senegalese capital, Dakar, that he was “not going home to join in politics”.
He was accused by Keita’s government in 2012 of treason over the failure of soldiers to tackle a rebellion led by Tuareg militants that eventually transformed to jihadists trying to take over the country. The charges were dropped last year.
Islamist militants took control of northern cities in Mali in March and April 2012 but were chased out by French-led military operation launched in January 2013, which is still under way.
Although the Malian army, French troops and a UN mission (MINUSMA) have managed to regain control of some tracts of the country, strife still reigns in the land. Mali regularly comes under attack in spite of the peace accord the government signed with Tuareg leaders in May and June 2015, in a bid to isolate the jihadists.
