Mali’s new president will be sworn into office on Friday, five weeks after the overthrow of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. Bah Ndaw, a former defense minister, was picked by the coup leader, Colonel Assimi Goita, to head a transitional government until elections are held. Col Goita will be his vice-president. READ ALSO: ECOWAS likely to decide on […]

The West African bloc ECOWAS will likely decide on Friday whether to lift potentially crippling sanctions imposed on Mali after last month’s coup, its mediator said. The mediator, Nigerian former president Goodluck Jonathan, called the 15-nation bloc’s sanctions “unfortunate” during a visit to Mali’s capital Bamako on Wednesday. West African leaders have heaped pressure on […]

Mali faces mountainous economic and political challenges more than a month after the military coup that toppled president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, analysts say. Plagued by graft and poverty, the Sahel state was already battling a severe downturn, aggravated by a jihadist insurgency and ethnic violence, when the military seized control on August 18. Mali is […]

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has fixed Friday to hear two interlocutory applications in a case instituted by two associations in Mali against the ECOWAS Commission and the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The case is challenging the legality of the Aug. 18 sanctions imposed on the Republic of Mali, following the military coup against President […]

France is ready to back the civil transition of power in Mali on conditions set by the Western African ECOWAS regional bloc and takes note of the first appointments to the Malian transition government, the French Foreign Ministry said. The military junta responsible for the coup in Mali, on Monday appointed former Defence Minister Ba […]

Mali’s first president Modibo Keita roused citizens to push the country forward when he took office in 1960, after decades of French rule, and precipitated a time many remember as one of industry and hope. But 60 years on, the optimism of the post-independence era has given way to chronic instability in Mali, which is […]

Mali’s military junta leader, Colonel Assimi Goita, on Tuesday, demanded an end to potentially crippling economic sanctions imposed after last month’s coup in the poor Sahel state. Addressing reporters during a ceremony marking 60 years of Malian independence, Goita said the recent nomination of a civilian as interim president meant that West African leaders must end […]

Mali’s military junta announced the leaders of a new transition government in the Sahel state on Monday, which will retain strong army links despite international pressure to appoint civilians after a coup. Junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita said in a televised statement that former defence minister Bah Ndaw would become transition president — while he […]

Dubbed “the big one” for his imposing height, Mali’s future interim president Bah Ndaw has served dictators and presidents alike throughout his long military career. Officials appointed by the Sahel state’s ruling junta hauled him out of retirement on Monday by naming him leader of a new transitional government. The move came after West African […]

The military junta that seized power in Mali last month said Wednesday that the country could face a “total embargo” from West African countries if it does not quickly appoint civilian leaders. The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions on Mali after the August 18 coup in a bid to push […]

West African leaders met the head of Mali’s military junta on Tuesday to press for the return to civilian rule nearly a month after rebel officers seized power in the fragile state. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) slapped sanctions on Mali after the putsch, including closing borders and a ban on trade […]

Moussa Traore, who led Mali from 1968 until he was ousted in a coup in 1991, died at his home aged 83 in the capital Bamako on Tuesday, his family said. “We are really in mourning,” his nephew Mohamed Traore told AFP. As a young lieutenant in 1968, Traore was the main instigator of a […]

Mali’s military coup leaders must hand over power to a civilian transitional government immediately, the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on Tuesday. The chairman said this in Accra as a deadline expired for the ruling junta to appoint interim leaders. The 15-member ECOWAS imposed economic sanctions after the Aug. […]

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will depart Abuja on Tuesday  for Accra, Ghana, to attend an Extraordinary Summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the situation in Mali. Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement said the vice president will represent President Muhammadu Buhari at the summit. Osinbajo will join other leaders […]

Mali’s popular opposition movement has rejected a charter for a transition government backed by the army officers who ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The military junta backed an arrangement for an 18-month transition government on Saturday, after a three-day forum with political parties and civil-society representatives. But the June 5 Movement (M5), which took part […]