JUST IN: Junta Committee Swears In Mali’s New Transitional Government—In order to prepare the nation for a smooth return to civilian rule after the August 18th coup d’etat in Mali as led by Colonel Assimi Goita toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita government, a committee has sworn in Bah Ndaw as the head of the transitional government.
The swearing in committee took place in a theatre filled with officials dressed in military attires, senior judges, and foreign diplomats in the nation’ capital, Bamako on Friday. Ndaw is due to lead a transition government for a maximum of 18 months with Colonel Assimi Goita as his Vice President before organising national elections.
Supreme Court Chief Prosecutor Boya Dembele said the challenges facing both men were “enormous”, He added that “It will truly require a reformulation of the state.”
Mali’s neighbours have leaned on the military junta to appoint civilians as interim president and prime minister as well as the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which sanctioned the country on August 20 to push for a swift return to civilian rule.
The former Nigerian president and ECOWAS mediator Goodluck Jonathan on his twitter page on Thursday night said “We are optimistic that this event will signal the beginning of the return to normalcy in Mali.”
The Last month’s coup followed weeks of mass protests against Keita, spurred by frustrations over a brutal jihadist conflict, perceived corruption and the country’s slumping economy. Mali has struggled to quell an eight-year-old Islamist insurgency which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.
However, ECOWAS might lift painful economic sanctions against Mali on Friday, the bloc’s envoy said on Thursday. Nigeria’s former president, Goodluck Jonathan, said this after landing in Bamako for talks as head of a delegation from the bloc.
