Meet Mali's Colonel Assimi Goita: Youngest 'president' in West Africa

• The youngest leader in West Africa is 38-year-old Malian colonel by name Assimi Goita

• He has carried out two successful coups within a space of nine months

• Goita faces sanctions after ECOWAS suspended the country days after he declared himself president

At a time when leaders across West Africa are mostly well into their 60s, a protest wave and two coup d'etats in nine months has propelled a younger leader into the 'group.'

When protesters ousted former Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, IBK, in 2020, the big question was the identity of the young soldier who led the coup.

After days, it turned out to be one Colonel Assimi Goita of the country's elite military unit.

Goita took the post of Vice-President in a transitional government till last week, when he unilaterally sacked 'his boss' President Bah Ndaw, after detaining him for failing to consult him (Goita) on a cabinet reschuffle.

Days later Ndaw resigned and was released from military custody, almost immediately Goita named himself president of the sprawling West African country, a decision the Constitutional Court affirmed on Friday, May 28.

Here are a few facts about the soldier president of Mali:

1. Rose to prominence on August 18, 2020 when he announced the arrest of then president Ibrahim Keita.

2. He was leader of the now disbanded National Committee for the Salvation of the People, CNSP – a junta of disgruntled army officers who promised to return the country to civilian rule as soon as possible.

3. In the transitional government, Goïta – a special forces commander served as vice-president, with direct responsibility for defence and security.

4. From a family of nine children, he is the third eldest.

5. He has had a lifelong military career, Goïta attended military schools and has specialisations in armoured weapons and cavalry.

6. He graduated from the military academy and, still a teenager, was assigned to the 134th Reconnaissance Squadron in restive Gao in 2002.

7. He is reputed to have led several military operations before, during and after the beginning of the Tuareg rebellion in 2012. he is known to inspire trust and loyalty within the ranks of the army, he is an effective man manager, and when off-duty likes to read and play football.

8. His various commands have taken him across the country: he has battled terrorists and drug traffickers on the Algerian border; hunted down rebel leaders around Kidal and Timbuktu; and beefed up security in Bamako following the deadly attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in 2015.

9. He also did a stint as a United Nations peacekeeper in Darfur, Sudan, where he won a medal for bravery.

10. He was in Accra for the May 30 Extraordinary ECOWAS summit of leaders where the bloc suspended Mali from its institutions insisting that power be handed over to a civilian-led transition.

With additional files from South Africa's Mail and The Guardian