The former president of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) died on Sunday January 16 after a long illness.
While Mali is plunged into a major diplomatic crisis, the country is mourning, since yesterday, its former President of the Republic. Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta is indeed dead this Sunday, while he was at his home in Bamako. Overthrown in August 2020, "IBK" was arrested, along with his Prime Minister, by soldiers who then took him to a military camp in Kati.
The next day, the former Malian president announced the dissolution of Parliament and the government, as well as his own resignation. Aged 76, the overthrown Malian president lived in his home, far from public life. According to sources close to the military junta, the former head of state had negotiated a certain freedom against his most total silence. IBK has not spoken on its reversal since 2020.
IBK: Fall, silence and death
It was in 2013 that Keïta took power, winning the second round of the presidential election against Soumaïla Cissé. After a re-election and the start of a disputed second term, IBK is at the center of a major political crisis in the middle of 2020. As of June 2020, at the call of Imam Mahmoud Dicko, demonstrators are demanding his resignation.
The high point of the protest took place on July 10, 2020. As the third day of mobilization unfolded, violence punctuated the day. The security forces kill several people and the government decides to arrest leaders of the opposition coalition. The very influential Imam Dicko, IBK is increasingly challenged. He ended up being removed from power. His son Karim Keïta is the subject of an international arrest warrant. Karim is the true symbol of the excesses of his father's presidency.
The disappearance of IBK is also quite a symbol. Because for several weeks, the junta currently in power explains that it needs time to straighten out the country left by IBK. The deposed president is said to have died following a long illness.