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Subscribe to RSSBAMAKO - Malian soldiers arrested Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra late on Monday, accusing him of blocking efforts to stabilize a nation divided by a coup in the capital and the Islamist takeover of the desert north.
"He was arrested ... as he tried to leave for France," said Bakary Mariko, a spokesman for the group of soldiers who seized power in a March coup. The group remains powerful despite officially handing power back to civilians earlier this year.
Diarra's arrest was confirmed by a diplomat in Mali.
The move will complicate efforts to stabilize the West African nation, where soldiers and politicians remain divided since the coup in March and where the north of the country is occupied by al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters.
Residents in Bamako said the town was quiet in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Mariko said Diarra had been taken to Kati, the military barracks town just outside the capital which still serves as the former junta's headquarters.
"The country is in crisis but he was blocking the institutions," Mariko said. "This is not a coup. The president is still in place but the prime minister was no longer working in the interests of the country."
Officials from Diarra's office were not available for comment.
There have been divisions for months between the former junta, interim President Diouncounda Traore and Diarra, a former NASA scientist and Microsoft chief for Africa.
Diarra was made prime minister in April after the military officially handed power back to civilians. As the son-in-law of Moussa Traore, a former Malian coup leader and president, he appeared to have good ties with the military.
However, tensions became particularly acute in recent weeks, with analysts saying Diarra, a relative newcomer to Malian politics after years abroad, seemed keen to establish a political base of his own ahead of any future elections.
West African leaders and Western nations have warned that Mali's north has become a safe haven for terrorism and organized crime, but they have struggled to draw up plans to help the country because of the deep divisions in the capital.
Some of Mali's politicians support the idea of a foreign-backed military operation to retake control of the north. Others, including much of the military, say they need only financial and logistical support and insist that Mali can carry out the operation itself.
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I do not envy Mali's crisis and what the people must be facing at this moment. With Islamist forces controlling the North and military in the South trying to establish more stability, it is going to be a long struggle, no doubt to gain freedom. Great care must be taken not to allow the Islamist to retake control of the country and the general population to lose what progress they have made.
Al-Qaida has a known presence in France and continues to plan and train from that 'safe' area. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to 'Europe as a whole' for being 'such a peaceful place', so France sort of ignores the Muslim radicals it has let infest their country, so long as they perpetrate their violence elsewhere. Same old France. The prime minister was obviously trying to get out of Mali before the real violence begins. He could room with Idi Amin, who is still living happily in France after decimating Uganda for years.
Wherever Islam is allowed to migrate death war and misery follow. The backlash against Islam is coming and when the entire world descends upon Muslims it will be horrific. Unfortunately, it will be the children who will suffer the most from this religion that forces its participants to embrace Jihad.