Katarina Hoije and Baudelaire Mieu | Bloomberg
Mali’s former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who came to power in elections that aimed to restore democracy after a military takeover, only to be deposed in another coup, has died at age 76.
Keita died at home in the nation’s capital of Bamako on Sunday, his family said.
The government confirmed Keita’s death, saying in an emailed statement that he died after a long illness. He had suffered a stroke and heart problems in recent years and had sought medical care in Dubai in late 2020.
Keita, often referred to by his initials IBK, came to power in 2013 following a military coup and a French-led military intervention against militants linked to al-Qaida that had occupied large swaths of northern Mali including the ancient city of Timbuktu. The government confirmed Keita’s death on state broadcaster ORTM.
He was reelected for a second five-year term in 2018, only to be ousted two years later.
During his second mandate, Keita faced growing criticism over his administration’s failure to tackle a sprawling Islamist insurgency that expanded to central Mali and spilled over into neighboring countries during Keita’s mandate. The critique grew into mass protests with tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets in Bamako and across the country in the summer of 2020.
On Aug. 18, 2020, Keita was arrested by mutinous soldiers led by Mali’s current President Col. Assimi Goita.
Hours later, Keita dissolved the parliament and announced his resignation, saying he wanted “no blood to be spilled” to keep him in power.
Regional leaders including Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Burkina Faso’s Roch Marc Christian Kabore and Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, who served in Keita’s Cabinet, on Sunday expressed their condolences to his family and the Malian people.
“I remember him as a cultured man, a great patriot, and a committed Pan-Africanist,” Mahamadou Issoufou, the former president of Niger, said on Twitter.
Keita was born on Jan. 29, 1945, in the village of Koutiala, near Mali’s border with Burkina Faso. He studied in Bamako, Dakar and Paris, earning a master’s degree in history with post-graduate studies in politics and international relations at the Sorbonne before entering politics.
He served as ambassador to Ivory Coast and later as a diplomatic adviser to former President Alpha Oumar Konare after helping him to victory in the 1992 presidential elections. He served as prime minister from 1994 to 2000.
During his seven years as president, Keita appointed seven different prime ministers.
He’s survived by his wife, Aminata Maiga Keita, and four children.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.