London, August 19, 2020 (AltAfrica)-The dissidents who plotted Tuesday’s military coup in Mali that supplanted the government of President Boubacar Keita was led by three colonels: Sadio Camara, Malick Diaw and Lieutenant-Colonel Mama Seku Lelenta

According a Malian journalist, Seydou Oumar Traoré, Camara was the ex-director of the military Prytaneum of Kati who has just returned from training in Russia.

Malick Diaw is the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Military Region of Kati.

Also mentioned was Lieutenant-Colonel Mama Seku Lelenta.

It was not clear how many senior officers were involved in the coup. But Brigadier General Cheick Fanta Mady Dembélé was being mentioned.

What the coup plotters did on Tuesday was to storm Bamako, from their Kati base, to arrest many Malian officials.

Apart from President Boubacar Keita and prime minister Boubou Cisse, many others were also arrested.

Among the people being held are the Chief of Staff of the National Guard and his Administrative and Financial Director (DAF), Abdoulaye Daffé, Minister of the Economy and Finance, and Tiebilé Dramé, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced early on Wednesday that he is resigning from his post saying that he does not wish blood to be shed following a military mutiny that plunged the country into a political crisis.

“Today, certain parts of the military have decided that intervention was necessary. Do I really have a choice? Because I do not wish blood to be shed,” Keita said in a brief statement broadcast on national television. 

Keita said that he has decided “to give up my duty from now on.”

It is unclear if the military is now officially in charge of the country.

Earlier, Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse were detained by soldiers in a dramatic escalation of a months-long crisis in the country.

The development came hours after soldiers took up arms and staged a mutiny at a key base in Kati, a town close to Bamako.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on Tuesday it had decided to close its member states’ borders with Mali after mutinying soldiers detained President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

ECOWAS said in a statement it was also suspending all financial flows between its 15 members and Mali and suspending Mali from its decision-making bodies.

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It called on the ECOWAS commission to impose sanctions on the “putschists and their partners and collaborators”.