The leaders of Mali’s coup last August do it again

“IT’S POLITICALMRFPECOWASMRFP chaos,” says Kevin, a 32-year-old teacher in Bamako, the capital of Mali. The country, he laments, “has absolutely no future”. There was at least some cause for hope in September, when Bah Ndaw, the president, and Moctar Ouane, the prime minister, were appointed to prepare for elections after a military coup the month before. But Assimi Goita, who led that coup and then became vice-president, is at it again. Messrs Ndaw and Ouane did not respect the transitional charter or consult him about a cabinet reshuffle, claimed Colonel Goita. They were detained on May 24th, then stripped of their powers and forced to resign.Malian politics have long been tumultuous. Last year Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the president at the time, faced big protests led by an opposition alliance called the 5- and a charismatic imam called Mahmoud Dicko. Some of the protesters welcomed the coup that ensued and hoped the army would clean up politics before handing over to civilians. After much wrangling between the junta and , a regional bloc, an 18-month transition to elections was planned, led by a nominally civilian government. The junta, though, took four plum cabinet posts, including minister of defence and minister of security. The 5- received little.