BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's military rulers said Thursday they have arrested a group of military personnel and civilians, including two Malian generals and a suspected French agent, accused of attempting to destabilize the country.
The announcement followed rumors in recent days of arrests of Malian army officers and was made by Mali’s security minister, Gen. Daoud Aly Mohammedine on the evening news on the local media. He assured the audience that a full investigation was underway and that “the situation is completely under control.”
The development comes amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent by Mali’s military following a pro-democracy rally in May, the first since soldiers seized power nearly four years ago.
The military provided few details about the alleged coup plotters, what it entailed and the French national implicated in it, beyond identifying the man as Yann Vezilier. The security minister said the Frenchman acted “on behalf of the French intelligence service, which mobilized political leaders, civil society actors, and military personnel” in Mali.
There was no immediate word from France, Mali's former colonial ruler, on the man's arrest.
“The transitional government informs the national public of the arrest of a small group of marginal elements of the Malian armed and security forces for criminal offenses aimed at destabilizing the institutions of the Republic,” Mohammedine said.
“The conspiracy has been foiled with the arrests of those involved," he said, adding that the plot began on Aug. 1.
The national television broadcast photos of 11 people it said were members of the group that planned the coup. The minister also identified the two Malian generals he said were part of the plot.
One, Gen. Abass Dembélé, is a former governor of the central Mopti region who was abruptly dismissed in May, when he demanded an investigation into allegations that the Malian army killed civilians in the village of Diafarabé.
The other, Gen. Néma Sagara, was lauded for her role in fighting militants in 2012.
Rida Lyammouri, an analyst at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said Mali's military is well aware of the discontent among the population and members of the military.
“The military leaders are simply not willing to let those grievances build into something more, like a coup, and therefore these arrests seem more of a way to intimidate than a legitimate coup attempt,” Lyammouri said.
“It's a continuation of the repeated unjustified arrests and prosecution of anyone speaking against the current regime," he added. "We have seen this behavior against journalists, civil society and political leaders, so it’s not surprising to see this against military members.”
Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has long battled an insurgency by armed militants, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
Following two military coups, the ruling junta expelled French troops and instead turned to Russia for security assistance. But the security situation remains precarious, and attacks from extremist groups linked with al-Qaida intensified in recent months.
In June, military leader Gen. Assimi Goita, was granted an additional five years in power, despite the junta’s earlier promises of a return to civilian rule by March 2024. The move followed the military’s dissolution of political parties in May.
FILE - Leader of Mali's ruling junta Lt. Col. Assimi Goita, center, attends an independence day military parade in Bamako, Mali on Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo, File)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.
SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.
“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.
It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.
Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.
While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.
NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.
The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)
