Former Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was released by the junta which overthrew him last week, the military announced on Thursday. He is now "at home" in Bamako.

The military in power in Mali announced Thursday, August 27, to have released ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) a week after overthrowing him . The former leader had spent seven years at the head of this state at war with the jihadists and which was facing a major political crisis.

"President IBK is free to move around, he is at home," Captain Djibrila Maïga, a spokesman for the junta, told AFP.

The National Committee for the Salvation of the People , set up by the military to lead the country, "informs national and international public opinion that ex-President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta has been released and is currently in his residence", CNSP announced on Facebook.

In his residence in Bamako

A member of his family indicated on condition of anonymity that Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta had returned during the night to his residence in Sebenikoro, district of the capital Bamako.

The 75-year-old former head of state was arrested along with several other officials on August 18 during the coup led by Malian officers after months of political turmoil.

The deposed president, commonly referred to as Malians by the acronym IBK, had become in the eyes of many of them the main culprit for the serious security, political and economic crisis in which their country has been sinking for years. He announced his resignation on national television the same evening, saying he had no other choice to avoid bloodshed.

He had been held since in a place not officially disclosed.