BAMAKO, Mali (AP) Mali's former coup leader is leaving his longtime military camp and will be taking up residence in a neighborhood reserved for former government leaders, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The announcement by Lt. Mohamed Bou Coulibaly comes after widespread speculation in local media about where Amadou Sanogo would live after recently being promoted from army captain to a 4-star general.
Sanogo is expected to leave the Kati barracks by the end of the week and will be living near the home of former transitional president Dioncounda Traore in a Bamako neighborhood reserved for former top government officials, Coulibaly said.
"Unofficially Gen. Sanogo is the military adviser to the president so it's better that Sanogo is near him in Bamako," Coulibaly said.
Sanogo, who seized power in a March 2012 coup and later handed over authority to a civilian transitional government, was promoted to a 4-star general in August just before newly elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita took office. Sanogo's exact role within the military and the new government has been unclear, though one presidential aide denied Coulibaly's claims that that the ex-coup leader was serving as a presidential adviser.