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Mali Court Appoints Assimi Goita as Interim President

Mali Court Appoints Assimi Goita as Interim President
folder_openAfrica... access_time2 years ago
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By Staff, Agencies

Mali's Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that the offices of vice president and interim president would be combined, making Vice President Colonel Assimi Goita the head of state.

“Starting from the notification about this decree, the Vice President of the transitional period will have a title of the President of the transitional period and the head of state,” Article 3 of the court’s ruling says, Sputnik reported.

Goita, who masterminded the August 2020 coup d'etat that brought down democratically-elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, also removed the interim president appointed to replace Keita earlier this week. Former Interim President Bah Ndaw, former Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, and former Defense Minister Souleymane Doucoure were arrested on Monday and taken to a military base until being stripped of their offices, and ultimately set free on Thursday.

Neither the court nor Goita has mentioned the empty offices of the prime ministry and defense ministry.

According to Goita, they had "sabotaged" the transition back to democratic governance by firing two army colonels appointed to head the defense and security ministries without asking him first. He pledged at the time that the timeline prescribing 2022 elections would remain unchanged.

Goita and much of the Malian military have received training from US Special Operations forces, as well as in France and Germany.

On Thursday, EU foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell indicated that despite the coup, the EU's military training mission in Mali, conducted by 600 troops from dozens of European states, would continue for the time being.

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