Multiple reports of small arms fire and troops advancing towards Mali’s capital.
Norwegian embassy and a security source have informed Reuters that Malian soldiers have mutinied outside the capital Bamako on Tuesday.
“The embassy has been notified of mutiny in the Armed Forces and troops are on their way to Bamako.
“Norwegians should exercise caution and preferably stay at home until the situation is clear,” the Norwegian embassy said in an alert to its citizens.”
The country’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, has been battling political crises and protests since June calling on him to resign.
Popular cleric Mahmoud Dicko is seen as a strong force behind the protest in Mali threatening President Keita’s political survival.
Keita is currently spending two out of his five years second term in office
West African leaders are keen to protect Mali’s fragile political system and security.
Nigeria’s former president and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Special Envoy to the country has been working with Malian and regional leaders to tackle the crisis.
In July, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari visited Bamako to mediate and diffuse the political crisis that is threatening the fragile peace and Stability in Mali.
He visited alongside four West African presidents; Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Presidents Machy Sall of Senegal, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire and President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger Republic.
In March 2012, soldiers in the West African nation overthrew the government and looted the presidential palace, following a Taureg rebellion and occupation of the desert north of the country, by jihadists.
This was in response to the civil war involving the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad and multiple Islamist rebel groups, including Ansar Dine, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa .
African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) alongside French-led Operation Barkhane intervened to restore law and order in Mali.
In April 2013, the United Nations Security Council replaced AFISMA with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali.
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