DAKAR, Senegal — Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, a former president of Mali who got here to energy on the promise of sincere management however was ousted in a coup final 12 months amid allegations of corruption, died on Sunday at his residence in Bamako, the capital. He was 76.
His loss of life was confirmed on Twitter by Abdoulaye Diop, a former minister of overseas affairs, and by the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. The trigger was not made public, however Mr. Keita had for years sought medical remedy within the United Arab Emirates and was hospitalized in September shortly after being overthrown.
Mr. Keita, popularly recognized by the initials I.B.Okay., was president from 2013 to 2020, one of the vital turbulent durations in Mali’s latest historical past. Coups bookended his tenure: One in 2012 precipitated a disaster that led to his profitable an election in a landslide and one other in August 2020 introduced his arrest by armed troopers who compelled him to resign on tv, later releasing him.
Throughout his time in workplace, insecurity spiraled greater in Mali, a various, landlocked West African nation recognized for its historic manuscripts and evocative music.
His rise in 2013 adopted a disaster by which coup leaders overthrew the federal government, then rebels seized Mali’s northern cities. Islamist extremists piggybacked on the chaos, imposing Shariah legislation in these cities, Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal. A navy intervention by France, Mali’s former colonial ruler, initially routed the extremists from their northern strongholds, however since then insecurity has unfold throughout the area.
When he grew to become president, many Malians noticed Mr. Keita, who had served as prime minister within the Nineteen Nineties, as an sincere man who could lead on Mali out of the advanced disaster. However his fame grew to become tainted by allegations of corruption and nepotism, and the months main to his overthrow had been marked by burgeoning protests over a parliamentary election he was accused of stealing by putting in his most popular candidates.
It was maybe his son, Karim Keita, who attracted probably the most resentment. When the president was overthrown, individuals broke into his son’s luxurious residence in Bamako, looting it and photographing themselves swimming in his pool.
Malians greeted the coup plotters as heroes. Mr. Keita had come to be seen as each a beneficiary and proponent of overseas pursuits, notably these of France.
Along with his son, Mr. Keita is survived by three different kids and his spouse, Aminata Maïga Keita. Full info on survivors was not instantly obtainable.
Since Mr. Keita’s fall, gathering resentment of Mali’s elites and of France has crescendoed. When the navy junta proposed this month to elongate the transition interval earlier than new elections are held, most of Mali’s neighbors in West Africa imposed harsh sanctions, supported by Western powers and the United Nations.
On Friday, Malians rose up in protest, primarily towards these sanctions, but in addition, in lots of circumstances, in favor of the junta.
Mr. Keita was praised, nonetheless, for a way he met his political finish, attempting to calm the state of affairs in his televised resignation speech whereas in navy custody.
“For seven years I had the happiness and the enjoyment of attempting to straighten out this nation,” he stated. “I don’t need any blood to be shed to maintain me in my place.”
