Mali junta appoints general to replace sacked civilian PM

By : AFP

Date: 21 November 2024 2:05pm WAT

FILE PHOTO: Colonel Assimi Goita, leader of Malian military junta, looks on while he stands behind Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou during a photo opportunity after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) consultative meeting in Accra, Ghana September 15, 2020. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko/File Photo

Mali’s junta on Thursday named military officer General Abdoulaye Maiga as the new prime minister, after sacking civilian premier Choguel Kokalla Maiga a day earlier following his criticism of the military leaders.

Abdoulaye Maiga had until now served as the government’s spokesman.

The West African country, plagued by jihadist and separatist violence, has been led by the military since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

“Major General Abdoulaye Maiga is appointed prime minister,” said a decree issued by junta chief General Assimi Goita and read out by the secretary general of the presidency on state television station ORTM.

Abdoulaye Maiga was not in the first group of colonels who overthrew the civilian president in August 2020 and who have since been promoted to generals, but he quickly joined them.

His appointment to replace civilian prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga seems to confirm the military’s hold on power.

Kokalla Maiga on Saturday publicly condemned the lack of clarity regarding the end of the transition to civilian rule.

In June 2022, the junta promised to organise elections and hand over power to civilians by the end of March 2024, but later postponed elections indefinitely.