On Tuesday, the African Union announced the suspension of Mali and threatened to slap sanctions on the West African country following a military coup last week.

The AU “decides … to immediately suspend the Republic of Mali from participation in all activities of the African Union, its organs and institutions, until normal constitutional order has been restored in the country”, the body’s Peace and Security Council said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Colonel Assimi Goita, the officer who deposed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last August, turned against the head of the transitional government Bah Ndaw after accusing him and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane of naming a new cabinet without consulting him.

Until last Wednesday, Goita had served as the transitional administration’s vice president.

The second coup in nine months slammed the brakes on Mali’s fragile transition and threatened to cement army rule in a country beset by poverty and a deadly militant insurgency.

The suspension is and has been the AU’s standard operating procedure since 2033 until Chad happened.