By MISNA
Mali’s government has asked for former president Amadou Toumani Toure (Att), ousted in a March 2012 coup after ruling for a decade, to be prosecuted before the Supreme Court for “high treason” for allegedly allowing the northern half of the country to fall to armed Islamists, reports MISNA.
As foreseen by the Constitution, the Supreme Court will file a formal request to Mali’s High court of justice, made up by members chosen by parliament and the only allowed to try an acting or former head of state. The Supreme Court has already asked the National Assembly to authorize a high treason probe against Att.
Based on a statement issued by the government released to the media, Toure – who has taken refuge in Senegal that should extradite him – in quality of chief commander of the armed forces is accused of facilitating “the penetration and installation of foreign forces in the country, notably by not offering them any resistance”.
During the armed crisis against Tuareg and Islamist armed groups, who occupied the northern Azawad region, Toure was responsible for the “voluntary destruction and damages of national defence means”, in addition to “demoralizing the troops with the nomination of incompetent officers and soldiers and dubious patriotism against more deserving elements, fomenting a sense of frustration in detriment of national defence”.
The coup leaders, headed by Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, had justified Toure’s removal with his incapacity to contrast the armed groups that had occupied the north since January 2012, accusing him also of wide corruption. The coup divided Mali in two, with on one side pro-Toure and on the other pro-putschists, as also accelerating the conquest on the ground of the three main northern cities of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu by the armed groups.
After a transition period, the nation is led since August by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and a new parliament was elected two weeks ago. Captain Sanogo was arrested last month on charges of murder and kidnapping, along with 15 of his men. According to some observers, Toure’s probable conviction will spark renewed tension in the divided country, engaged currently in a military operation backed by French troops and UN forces in the Azawad region.
