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MALI-POLITICS
Mali PM re-instated, ordered to form new govt
BAMAKO, Sept 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Mali’s president has re-appointed Prime
Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga and ordered him to form a new government, a
statement from the presidency said Wednesday.
Maiga is a close ally to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was re-
elected in hard-fought August polls, and has previously advocated national
reconciliation and moves to disarm militias in the conflict-hit country.
The president “renewed him in his duties”, the statement said.
Maiga, a former defence minister who was first appointed in December 2017,
is considered a strategist and thought to have played a key role in Keita’s
re-election.
The president won 67 percent of the vote against runner-up Soumaila Cisse,
a former finance minister, who scored nearly 33 percent in a runoff on August
12.
Keita, who was sworn in for his new 5-year term on Tuesday, has faced
fierce criticism of failures to tackle jihadist violence and ethnic tensions
that have rocked the poor Sahel state.
He used his swearing-in ceremony to vow to restore peace to the troubled
north, hours after a UN peacekeeper was injured in a jihadist rocket attack
in the region.
“I will be implacable against all those who affront our values of freedom
and tolerance,” Keita, 73, said.
BSS/AFP/RY/1825 hrs