On August 18 2020, disaffected soldiers led a successful coup against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. In custody of military coup makers, President Keïta publicly resigned and dissolved parliament. Calling themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (NCSP), the coup leaders have promised to hold democratic elections soon.

The coup is the culmination of months of public protests (dubbed the ‘June 5 Movement‘). The public is angry at the President for irregularities in the March 2020 election that culminated in the installation of his own candidates. This after the leading opposition leader, Soumaila Cissé, was kidnapped by unknown persons while campaigning 3 days prior to the election. The public is also fed up with rampant government corruption that burst open when a video was released purporting to show the President’s son partying on a luxury yacht.  Over recent years, insecurity across the country has increased as violent Islamic rebels fight to secure territory. The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the ongoing severe economic hardship. Further, some elements of the Mali Army have been dissatisfied with the manner with which President Keïta handled the 2012 Tuareg rebellion in Northern Mali. In 2017, the Tuareg rebels joined the Mali Army in operations against violent Islamic extremist groups in the country.

Since 2012, Mali has become focus point in Africa for violent Islamic extremists including Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State.