Why the World Is Watching a Military Takeover in Mali

Instability in Mali is likely to ripple across West Africa and beyond.‌‌

The military in Mali arrested the country’s president and prime minister on Tuesday in a coup staged after weeks of destabilizing protests over a disputed election, government corruption and a violent Islamist insurgency that has lasted for eight years.

The streets of Bamako, the capital, exploded with both jubilation and gunfire after President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and his prime minister, Boubou Cissé, were detained along with other government officials. Around midnight, the president announced on state TV that he was resigning.

The effects of the turmoil could spill beyond the borders of Mali, a country whose strategic location has geopolitical implications for West Africa, the Sahel, the broader Arab world, the European Union and the United States.

French forces and American advisers show the West’s keen interest

France has remained deeply involved in the affairs of Mali, its former colony, decades after the country gained independence....... Story unfolding...