Bah Ndaw, a retired colonel who has been designated Mali’s interim president following last month’s coup, made his first public appearance on Thursday, September 24, meeting a regional mediator, According to AFP.
Ndaw, 70, met former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, in Bamako on a mission for the 15-nation bloc ECOWAS, on the eve of his swearing-in.
Ndaw’s appointment was announced on Monday, September 21, by Colonel Assimi Goita, who heads a junta of young military officers who seized power on August 18, ousting elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Interim President, Bah Ndaw
Goita himself will serve as vice president, under the announcement.
Vice President, Goita
The interim president will rule for a maximum of 18 months before staging nationwide elections.
ECOWAS — the Economic Community of West African States — slapped sanctions on Mali on August 20 to push for the swift restoration of the civilian government, including the appointment of civilians as interim president and prime minister.
The bloc may announce on Friday whether the plan meets criteria for easing sanctions, Jonathan said on Thursday.
Jonathan and his delegation met on Thursday with Goita and other officers in military uniform, as well as with Ndaw, AFP reporters saw.
Mali’s neighbours have taken a hard line with the junta, fearful that the fragile nation of some 19 million people could spiral into chaos.
Swathes of the vast country already lie outside of government control, due to a lethal jihadist insurgency that first emerged in 2012 and has also inflamed ethnic tensions.
Current restrictions include border closures and a ban on commercial trade and financial flows but not on basic necessities, drugs, equipment to fight coronavirus, fuel or electricity.
