Ismaël Wagué is a Malian military officer serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the

Malian Air Force The Mali Air Force (), established in 1961, serves as the primary aerial warfare branch of Mali's armed forces. The force was initially created with the assistance of the French military, which provided training and equipment to establish the air ...

of the

Malian Armed Forces The Malian Armed Forces (, FAMa) consists of the Army (), Republic of Mali Air Force (), and National Guard. They number some 7,000 and are under the control of the Minister of Armed Forces and Veterans. The Library of Congress as of January 200 ...

. After the

2020 Malian coup d'état On 18 August 2020, elements of the Malian Armed Forces began a mutiny, and subsequently undertook a coup d'état. Soldiers on pick-up trucks stormed the Soundiata military base in the town of Kati, where gunfire was exchanged before weapons w ...

, he became spokesperson for the

National Committee for the Salvation of the People The National Committee for the Salvation of the People (, CNSP) was the ruling military junta of Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest co ...

. Wagué gave an interview on

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

, wherein he claimed that the actions of the Malian military was not a coup. He has also pledged that the National Committee for the Salvation of the People will seek a leader to transition Mali from military to civilian rule. Colonel-Major Ismaël Wagué was appointed to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force in 2019 by president

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (; 29 January 1945 – 16 January 2022), often known by his initials IBK, was a Malian politician who served as the president of Mali from September 2013 to August 2020, when he was forced to resign in the 2020 Malian cou ...

after a series of dismissals in response to a terrorist attack that killed 26 soldiers in Northern Mali.

International Sanctions

On February 4, 2022, Wagué was targeted with sanctions by the EU Council, given his position in President

Assimi Goïta Général d’Armée Assimi Goïta (born 9 November 1983) is a Malian Officer (armed forces), military officer who has served as interim President of Mali since 2021 and the president of the Alliance of Sahel States since 2024. Goïta was the le ...

's inner circle and direct responsibility for obstructing and undermining Mali's political transition to a democratic civilian-led government.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Malian military personnel Malian politicians Living people 21st-century Malian people {{Mali-politician-stub