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| - In launching its second apparent coup within a year, Mali's military risks weakening the already-fragile Sahel state in the face of a brutal jihadist insurgency, experts say. In a move that provoked diplomatic uproar, the army this week detained Mali's interim president and prime minister and stripped them of their powers, before releasing them Thursday. It is the second apparent military coup in nine months, underscoring deep political dysfunction in the war-torn nation. Military officers led by Colonel Assimi Goita had already launched a putsch in August, deposing elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. His overthrow came after weeks-long protests against the then-president over perceived corruption and his failure to end the bloody insurgency. Threatened by international sanctions, the army handed power to a nominally civilian caretaker government headed by President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane. But the army deposed the pair after a government reshuffle that would have replaced two putschists serving as the defence and security ministers. Goita is now in charge, according to diplomats and military officers. Boubacar Ba, a researcher in Mali's capital Bamako, said the army would struggle to struggle to manage the country's fractious politics while "fighting on the ground at the same time". A brutal jihadist conflict that first emerged in 2012, and has since spread to Burkina Faso and Niger, has left swathes of the vast nation of 19 million people outside government control. Despite the army's pledges to boost security, jihadist attacks continued unabated after the August coup. Its latest power play also comes at a time when insurgents have increasingly exerted their influence in regions they control. In early May, for example, militants in northern Mali assembled three thieves in a public square and chopped off their right hands and left feet. Such a show of force had not been seen in Mali for years. Mali's Association for Human Rights said that the military's "second coup" would contribute even more to the "weakening of the country". For Yvan Guichaoua, a Sahel specialist at the University of Kent, the political chaos in Bamako will only benefit jihadists. He explained that the Sahel's main jihadist alliance -- the al-Qaeda-aligned Group to Support Islam and Muslims -- is not simply an armed group, for example, but a political force that could become more attractive. Pointing to Mali's chronic instability, he added that notions of a civil revival and a return to normal governance in the country are a "pipe dream." The Malian military's actions also pose a dilemma for France, the former colonial power, which has more than 5,000 troops in the Sahel as part of its anti-jihadist operation, Barkhane. French President Emmanuel Macron called the arrests of the president and prime minister a "coup d'etat in an unacceptable coup d'etat" and threatened sanctions. Experts argue that sanctions are unlikely, however. "If Goita and Mali are placed under sanctions, Barkhane will be unable to stay (in Mali) for long or to stay without problems," said Nicolas Normand, a former French ambassador to Mali. "The jihadists could take power in a situation of chaos." Turmoil in the country will complicate France's ongoing attempt to pare down its costly deployment in the Sahel. "It's a whole process that is destabilised," said Antoine Glaser, a French analyst specialist on Africa. ah-vl-eml/ri
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