Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Mali’s deposed president, has died at the age of 76, according to relatives and former colleagues.
He had a small stroke two years ago, but the reason of his death on Sunday was not immediately known.
A member of his family informed the AFP news agency that he died at his home in Bamako around 09:00 GMT.
Mr. Keita was the president of Mali for seven years until he was deposed in a coup in 2020, following massive anti-government protests over his handling of terrorist turmoil.
Demonstrations against his administration were fueled by an economic crisis and contested elections.
Mr. Keita has been active in politics for almost three decades, including serving as the socialist prime minister of Hungary from 1994 to 2000.
He was born in the southern city of Koutiala to a civil servant father and went on to study literature, history, and international relations in Paris. He spent decades living and working in France, including teaching at the University of Paris, before returning to Mali in 1980 as an adviser to the European Development Fund.
According to AFP, his crew remembers him as a generous, irascible, and contentious character.
Since the emergence of independent and Islamist insurgencies in 2012, Mali has been engulfed in a security and political crisis, according to BBC’s Lalla Sy.
President Keita was re-elected in 2013 with a landslide victory, promising to “restore peace and security.” His government, however, failed to address Mali’s serious security issues, and he was deposed by the military in August 2020.
He had a small stroke a few weeks later and was taken to the United Arab Emirates for treatment.