Mali fires prime minister

Mali’s interim leader, Assimi Goita, has appointed government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga as the West African country’s new prime minister, a day after firing Choguel Kokalla Maiga, state broadcaster ORTM reported on Thursday.

Choguel Maiga was sacked on Wednesday, just days after criticizing military authorities for delaying Bamako’s transition to civilian rule. The former French colony has been embroiled in a deadly jihadist insurgency since 2012.

“The duties of the prime minister and members of the government are terminated,” Colonel Goita said in a decree read out on ORTM by the presidency’s secretary general, Alfousseyni Diawara.

Mali experienced back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, both led by Goita. The second involved the removal of the country’s interim civilian leaders, who had been appointed following the initial military takeover.

The military government had originally proposed a five-year transition period. However, following negotiations with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), it agreed to hold elections in February 2024. In September last year, then-government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga announced that the authorities were postponing the general elections due to “technical reasons.” They promised to set a new date later.

Maiga, who had been in charge of the government since 2021, reportedly expressed frustration about being sidelined from important decisions and claimed that he was not informed before the elections were postponed. According to the Associated Press, he told his supporters at a rally on Saturday that confusion over the end of the transition could pose “serious challenges and the risk of going backwards.”

“The transition supposed to end on March 26, 2024 has been postponed indefinitely, unilaterally, and without debate within the Government. I learned in the media that the transition had been postponed,” local media quoted Maiga as saying.

“It’s time for the Malian people to know what to expect. Everything is happening in total opacity, without the knowledge of the prime minister. I have the courage and intellectual honesty to recognize it while deeply deploring it,” he added.

His remarks sparked widespread outrage among the authorities’ supporters. On Sunday, the local non-profit group Collective for the Defense of the Military organized protests demanding that the minister resign within 72 hours.