Soldiers round up Mali leaders after new cabinet announced

Malian soldiers rounded up the president and prime minister Monday, hours after a government reshuffle left out two members of the junta that seized power in a coup nine months earlier in the West African nation, witnesses reported.

The African Union said the Malian president and prime minister had both been arrested by "rebel soldiers."

There was no immediate confirmation as to why a meeting was abruptly called at the military headquarters in Kati, but it came just hours after the new Cabinet positions were announced, according to several witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of recrimination by the military.

The new Cabinet announced Monday afternoon did not include Interior Security Minister Modibo Kone or Defense Minister Sadio Camara. No reason was given for their exclusion, but the move suggested mounting divisions within the transitional government that is responsible for organizing new elections by next February.

As the meeting at Kati carried on into the night, there was no immediate comment from transitional President Bah N’Daw, a retired colonel major, nor from transitional Prime Minister Moctar Ouane.

The two leaders were sworn in last September after the ruling military junta agreed to hand over power to a civilian transitional government under growing international pressure.

The junta had grabbed power a month earlier after mutinous soldiers encircled the home of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and fired shots into the air. He later resigned on national television under duress, saying he did not want blood to be shed in order for him to stay in office.

Monday's political developments marked the latest sign of strain on democracy in Mali, which has been battling an Islamic insurgency that gained hold after another military coup in 2012.

There has been widespread concern the upheaval in Mali will further set back efforts to contain the militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State groups.

After the 2012 coup, Islamic extremists took control of major towns in northern Mali. Only a 2013 military intervention led by the former colonial power France pushed extremists out of those towns. France and a U.N. force have continued to battle the extremist rebels, who operate in rural areas and regularly attack roads and cities.