Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills partner and Africa co-chairperson Peter Leon tells Mining Weekly that the August 19 coup in Mali, in which now-former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was allegedly arrested and forced to resign on State television by the country’s military, is very worrying, even if the opposition protests that started on June 5 (known as the June 5 Movement) appear to have supported it. Of his alleged forced resignation, Keita said, “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.”
