Malian transitional President Bah N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, who were arrested Monday by the military, are stripped off their prerogatives in order to "preserve the Transition Charter and defend the Republic," Malian transitional Vice President Colonel Assimi Goita said in a press release on Tuesday.

"Held by the patriotic commitment made to the Malian people as well as to the defense and security forces, the vice-president of the transition, saw himself under the obligation to act to preserve the Transition Charter and defend the Republic," read the press release.

According to the text, the arrest is due to a crisis that has lasted several months across the country marked by strikes and various demonstrations by social and political actors.

"The government led by Mr. Moctar Ouane has shown itself incapable of constituting a reliable interlocutor capable of mobilizing the confidence of the social partners," the transitional vice president said in the press release.

Colonel Goita, who was leader of the already dissolved National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) that overthrew then President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last year, criticized President Bah N'Daw for having "accepted the resignation of the government and immediately reappointed the prime minister" in a "unilateral manner."

The result, according to him, was the general anger shown through the persistence of strikes led by the National Union of Workers of Mali, which ultimately ended in an indefinite strike.

"This state of affairs constitutes a real asphyxiation of the Malian economy and therefore the guarantee of instability with immeasurable consequences," Colonel Goita stressed.

He also expressed his discontent toward President N'Daw for not having consulted him on the choice of ministers in charge of defense and security.

"Such an approach translates into a clear will of the President of the Transition and of the Prime Minister to move towards a violation of the Transition Charter, contrary to the oath taken during his inauguration on September 25, 2020," Colonel Goita continued.

While inviting the people to go about their business freely, the transitional vice president of Mali made it clear that "the transition process is following its normal course and that the planned elections will be held during 2022."

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediator of the Malian crisis, Goodluck Jonathan, is expected to be in the Malian capital of Bamako Tuesday to ease the situation.