The 2021 Malian coup d'état began on the night of 24 May 2021 when the Malian Army led by Vice President Assimi Goïta captured President Bah N'daw, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and Minister of Defence Souleymane Doucouré. Assimi Goïta, the head of the junta that led the 2020 Malian coup d'état, announced that N'daw and Ouane were stripped of their powers and that new elections would be held in 2022. It is the country's third coup d'état in ten years, following the 2012 and 2020 military takeovers, with the latter having happened only nine months earlier.
Choguel Kokalla Maïga (center) and Abdoulaye Diop with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 4 January 2023
Colonel Assimi Goïta is a Malian military officer who has been interim President of Mali since 28 May 2021. Goïta was the leader of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, a military force that seized power from former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in the 2020 Malian coup d'état. Goïta later seized power from Bah Ndaw in the 2021 Malian coup d'état and has since been declared interim president of Mali.
Goïta in 2023
Goïta with American diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield in 2021
Goïta with Russian president Vladimir Putin in July 2023.