Former Mali Foreign Minister Moctar Ouane Appointed Transitional Premier

Former Mali foreign minister Moctar Ouane named transitional premier, according to an official. 


In this file photo taken on March 24, 2008 Malian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Moctar Ouane holds a presser at the foreign ministry in Bamako where he said that “bands of tuaregs from neighbouring states” had “backed up” Malian rebel tuaregs who had recently attacked Malian army in the far north of the country. The former Mali foreign minister Moctar Ouane has been named transitional premier according to official sources on September 27, 2020. Georges GOBET / AFP
In this file photo taken on March 24, 2008, Malian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Moctar Ouane holds a presser at the foreign ministry in Bamako where he said that “bands of Tuaregs from neighbouring states” had “backed up” Malian rebel Tuaregs who had recently attacked Malian army in the far north of the country.  Georges GOBET / AFP

 

Former Malian foreign minister Moctar Ouane has been named prime minister by the country’s interim president Bah Ndaw, state television announced Sunday.

Ouane, 64, served as foreign minister between 2004 and 2011 during Amadou Toumani Toure’s presidency.

This photo taken on January 16, 2009, shows Mali’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Moctar Ouane waving prior a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi.  RAVEENDRAN / AFP

 

The members of the new PM’s government will be unveiled Tuesday, an officer from the military junta in power since Mali’s August 18 coup told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Mali’s neighbours in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had insisted that the junta name a civilian to the job of government chief after former colonel and defence minister Bah Ndaw was installed.

Transition Mali President Bah Ndaw is seen during his inauguration ceremony at the CICB (Centre International de Conferences de Bamako) in Bamako on September 25, 2020. (Photo by Michele Cattani / AFP)

 

A civilian PM was the precondition for ECOWAS to lift sanctions it imposed two days after the coup removing President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, which the junta claims inflicted no casualties.

Ndaw was sworn in Friday before Mali’s supreme court with junta chief Colonel Assimi Goita as his deputy, placing Goita in charge of defence and security issues.

AFP