Mali junta leader sacks PM after criticism of delayed return to civilian rule

Assimi Goita, Mali’s junta leader, has fired Choguel Maiga, civilian prime minister, following a dispute over a return to democratic rule.

Military leaders have ruled Mali since they seized power in 2020. The following year, another coup was staged.

In June 2022, the coup leaders promised a return to civilian rule by March this year, but postponed elections without announcing a fresh date.

Maiga, a former minister and presidential candidate, was appointed prime minister after the second coup.

He was seen as the civilian face of the junta’s strategic pivot away from former colonial power France and toward closer political and military ties with Russia.

However, Maiga began to distance himself from the junta in recent months, prompting fears that he could be dismissed.

At a rally on Saturday, the 66-year-old warned that there would be “serious challenges and the risk of going backwards” while the junta continues to postpone Mali’s transition back to civilian rule.

“The transition was supposed to end on 26 March, 2024, but it has been postponed indefinitely, unilaterally, without debate within the government. This is not normal in a government,” he said.

Maiga added that as prime minister, he was not informed about the junta’s decision to postpone elections.

In a presidential decree on Wednesday, Goita announced Maiga’s dismissal.

Goita said the duties of the prime minister and the members of the government were “terminated”.

The move also comes a week after Mali’s junta arrested one of the country’s top politicians for criticizing the military rulers of neighboring Burkina Faso.