The ruling junta of Mali appointed its spokesman as the country’s new prime minister on Thursday, after his civilian predecessor was fired for criticizing the administration.
The spokesman, Col. Abdoulaye Maiga, replaced former Prime Minister Choguel Maiga — the two are not direct relatives — after Choguel Maiga told reporters that the junta was making decisions about the postponement of elections in “total secrecy.” He condemned the administration for failing to transition the country back to democracy within two years, as it had promised after seizing power in 2020.
Choguel Maiga, who had served as prime minister since 2021, had consistently defended the junta before his comments, even as Mali’s neighbors and former Western partners criticized it for delaying elections and working with Russia.
On state television, the new prime minister and the president, Gen. Assimi Goita, said that key ministries would remain under the same leadership. The influential cabinet members include Abdoulaye Diop, a veteran diplomat and former ambassador to the United States in the 2000s, and Defense Minister Sadio Camara, who has played a major role in strengthening relationships with Russia.
Colonel Maiga — an expert in international affairs and good governance who has a doctorate, according to his résumé — represented Mali at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, and at the U.N. climate conference known as COP29 in Azerbaijan this month.
The appointment of a military man to a position previously held by a civilian fuels uncertainty over Mali’s presidential election, which was scheduled for February but has been indefinitely postponed. The military cited “technical reasons” for the delay but did not provide additional details. Whether General Goita will run in that election, if it takes place, to retain power remains unclear.
Soumaila Lah, a political analyst focused on Mali, said the latest developments pointed to a power struggle between General Goita and Choguel Maiga.
“Goita wants to eventually become a civilian in order to be able to stand as president should elections eventually happen,” Mr. Lah said. But, he added, “Choguel Maiga also has political ambitions and wants to be president.”
Although Mali is rich in natural resources — it is West Africa’s largest cotton producer and second-largest gold producer — its population remains chronically poor, with 45 percent of its 23 million people living in poverty, according to the African Development Bank Group. For more than a decade, Mali has been battling a jihadist insurgency that has spread across the region.
“In their mind, there’s no other possibility than answering this crisis with weapons,” Oumar Mariko, the leader of an opposition party, said in an interview in September in the neighboring Ivory Coast. “But an all-military approach won’t solve our problems. Where are peace and respect for democratic values?”
Mali’s junta has had several setbacks in recent months. It suffered a severe defeat in July against separatists from the Tuareg ethnic group in the north. In September, a deadly terrorist attack on the capital, Bamako, by Islamist insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda killed more than 70 members of the country’s armed forces.
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