Mali’s government chooses Abdoulaye Maiga, a spokesman, to be prime minister, according to state TV

Mali’s ruling junta made Abdoulaye Maiga, who was their spokesman, prime minister on Thursday. This came a day after firing Choguel Maiga, who had spoken out against the government, according to state TV ORTM.

A source close to Maiga told Reuters that Choguel Maiga was quoted over the weekend criticizing the junta for not holding polls within the promised 24-month return to democracy. This made the ruling generals very angry.

The military took over in two coups in 2020 and 2021. They said they would hold elections in February but have now put them off forever, citing technical problems.

It looks like they fired Choguel Maiga because they were getting more and more angry with Malian officials, even those who had supported the coup and worked with the junta at first.

Choguel Maiga, a civilian who was made prime minister by the military junta in 2021, is the most recent leader to lose support as the wait for polls continues.

On Saturday, he was quoted as saying that the government had not talked about delaying the elections and that he had learned about the junta’s move from the news.

Choguel Maiga told reporters, “It’s all going on in complete secrecy, and the prime minister has no idea about it.”

Before that, he had often supported Mali’s junta when its neighbors and allies in West Africa and around the world spoke out against its military work with Russian mercenaries and repeated delays in holding elections.

As a government spokeswoman, Abdoulaye Maiga has also spoken out strongly against France, which used to be a colonial power. For example, he told French President Emmanuel Macron to stop being “neocolonial” and “condescending.”

Before he became prime minister, Abdoulaye Maiga was also minister of local administration.