The ousted President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, has died aged 76, household and former colleagues say.
Two years in the past he suffered a minor stroke however the reason for his loss of life on Sunday was not instantly clear.
He died at 09:00 GMT at his dwelling within the capital Bamako, a member of his household advised AFP information company.
Mr Keïta led Mali for seven years till 2020, when he was ousted in a coup after large anti-government protests over his dealing with of jihadist unrest.
An financial disaster and disputed elections additionally fuelled the demonstrations towards his rule.
Mr Keïta was concerned in politics for greater than three a long time, serving as a socialist prime minister from 1994 to 2000.
‘Beneficiant, irascible, divisive’
Born to a civil servant father within the southern metropolis of Koutiala, he went on to check literature, historical past and worldwide relations in Paris. He lived and labored in France for many years, together with educating on the College of Paris, earlier than returning to Mali in 1980, at first working as an adviser to the European Improvement Fund.
He’s remembered variously as a beneficiant, irascible and divisive determine by his entourage, AFP says.
Mali has been within the grip of a safety and political disaster for the reason that outbreak of independence and jihadist insurgencies in 2012, the BBC’s Lalla Sy says.
President Keïta went on to be elected in 2013 on a promise to “deliver peace and safety”, profitable by a landslide. But his authorities did not put an finish to Mali’s grave safety challenges, and he was ousted by the army in August 2020.
Weeks later, he suffered a minor stroke and was flown to the United Arab Emirates for medical therapy.
In line with Francophone African information website Jeune Afrique Mr Keïta stored a low profile thereafter, dwelling in Bamako along with his spouse Aminata who made frequent journeys to Ivory Coast to go to their sons dwelling there.
Mali’s new army rulers staged a second coup in Might of final yr, asserting an additional three-year delay to elections that have been meant to occur this February.
This final motion made them the goal of sanctions this week by the EU in addition to its neighbours within the West African regional bloc Ecowas.