In Mali, the military junta insisted on Wednesday that it is it which holds power in Bamako. To do this, she dismissed civilian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga and the government after criticism of the military power.
Choguel Kokalla Maïga, appointed to his post by the military in 2021 following a second coup in a year, was seen as isolated, with limited capacity for action vis-à-vis the military. His dismissal, however, creates additional uncertainty in an already troubled context. Some of the main members of the junta, such as General Sadio Camara, Minister of Defense, and General Ismaël Wagué, Minister of Reconciliation, are part of the government.
No deadline for the end of the transition
The Prime Minister is dismissed four days after having publicly criticized the junta on Saturday. He deplored being kept away from decision-making regarding the maintenance of the generals in power and spoke of “the specter of confusion and amalgamation” which, according to him, would hover over the current so-called transition period. The junta at the head since 2020 of this country facing jihadism and a deep multidimensional crisis has failed to fulfill the commitment it had initially made under international pressure to return power to elected civilians in March 2024. No new deadline is not fixed.
Choguel Kokalla Maïga, 66, was the civilian face of the strategic pivot made by the military which broke the historic alliance with the former French colonial power and turned politically and militarily towards Russia. In September 2021 at the United Nations, he was the one who delivered one of the most notable warning messages of this pivot by denouncing what he presented as the “abandonment in mid-flight” that, according to him, the withdrawal constituted. announced by the French anti-jihadist force Barkhane after years of fighting alongside Malian forces. This withdrawal pushed Mali to explore new avenues with other partners, he said as the deployment of elements of the controversial Russian private paramilitary group Wagner was looming.
A guarantee for the junta
Several times minister and three times presidential candidate (2002, 2013 and 2018), Choguel Kokalla Maïga provided the junta with a form of support as a figure of the June 5 Movement/Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5/RFP). This collective took part in the protest against former civilian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, finally overthrown by the military in August 2020.
