This African Country Has Had Enough of Bungling Politicians
A military coup that raised alarm across West Africa is largely seen as a chance for progress at home.
Photographer: Annie Risemberg/AFP via Getty Images
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The military coup in Mali raised alarm across West Africa, a region under threat for years from Islamist militants that can ill afford more instability. Yet at home, it’s largely seen as a harbinger of progress.
Weeks of public unrest and the final ouster of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was the culmination of anxiety over his failure to steer the nation to recovery after a 2012 putsch that enabled extremists to gain a foothold in the north. It also exposed a deep-rooted distrust of Mali’s political class in a country that’s experienced four coups since independence from France in 1960.