Mali’s military junta led by Lt. Col. Assimi Goita, dubbed “transitional president,” said it foiled a coup by some of its military officials mobilised by the French government.

In a broadcast on the state-owned TV on Thursday, Mr Goita-led junta said it arrested those plotting the coup, accusing a French citizen, Yann Vezilier, of being a spy for French international service of mobilising the coupists.

Mali’s minister of security, Gen. Daoud Aly Mohammedine, said Mr Vezilier was working “on behalf of the French intelligence service, which mobilized political leaders, civil society actors and military personnel,” to oust Mr Goita from office.

The development came two months after Mr Goïta-led junta dissolved all political parties in Mali amid calls for election and transition to civil rule since it assumed power in a coup.

With Mr Goïta’s regime under pressure to restore democratic rule in Mali, a national conference held earlier in the year recommending Mr Goita remain president until 2030. However, the national conference was boycotted by major opposition parties in the country.

Since he assumed power about five years ago through a coup in 2020, the military leader has maintained a firm grip on power in the West African country, forming alliance with other neighbouring countries in the Sahel Region, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, withdrawing its membership of ECOWAS over pressure to restore civil rule in Mali.