Former Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure is set to return to the country on Friday for the first time since he was ousted in a coup in 2012.
Toure reign was overthrown by Mutinous soldiers, precipitating the fall of the country’s northern territory to Islamist rebels allied with Al-Qaeda.
Until then, his reign was regarded by many as one of the region’s most stable democracies.
Since his ouster, Toure has been living in exile in Senegal.
“With the agreement of Mali’s president, I will return to Bamako on Sunday,” AFP quotes Toure to have said by phone, in what is believed to be his first public statement since he left the country.
“I am happy. I would like to thank the Senegalese authorities. I will see my brother, President IBK, on Sunday, and I am not there to do politics,” he added.
Current president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said it was the right time for the former leader to return to the country.
“I will send a state plane to fetch him and bring him back to Mali,” Keita asaid, describing how he had invited the ex-leader for lunch on Sunday.
Toure was accused by Keita’s government of treason over the failure of soldiers to tackle a rebellion led by Tuareg people that eventually led to jihadists trying to take over the country. The charges were dropped last year.
