section_path: Background
section_name: Background
paragraph_text: Background
  
  Nine months prior to the 2021 coup, in August 2020, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was removed from power by a group of military officers. This followed months of unrest in Mali following irregularities in the March and April parliamentary elections and outrage against the kidnapping of opposition leader Soumaila Cissé. On 18 August 2020, members of the military led by Colonel Assimi Goïta and Colonel-Major Ismaël Wagué in Kati, Koulikoro Region began a mutiny. President Keïta, and Prime Minister Boubou Cissé were arrested, and shortly after midnight Keïta announced his resignation, saying he did not want to see any bloodshed.
  
  Following Keïta's resignation, on behalf of the military officers, Wagué announced the formation of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), and promised to hold elections in the near future. On 12 September 2020, CNSP agreed to an 18-month political transition to civilian rule. Shortly after, Bah N'daw was named interim president by a group of 17 electors, with Goïta being appointed vice president. The government was inaugurated on 25 September 2020.
  
  On 18 January 2021, the transitional government announced that the CNSP had been disbanded, almost four months after it had been promised under the initial agreement.