BAMAKO - Mali's junta on Thursday named General Abdoulaye Maiga as the new prime minister a day after sacking civilian premier Choguel Kokalla Maiga after he criticised military leaders.
General Maiga had until now served as government spokesman in the West African country, which is plagued by jihadist and separatist violence and has been led by the military since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.
His appointment to replace civilian prime minister Kokalla Maiga seems to confirm the military's hold on power.
In June 2022, the junta promised to organise elections and hand over power to civilians by the end of March 2024, but later postponed elections indefinitely.
"Major General Abdoulaye Maiga is appointed prime minister," said a decree issued by junta chief General Assimi Goita and read out by the secretary general of the presidency on state television station ORTM.
General Maiga was not in the first group of colonels who overthrew the civilian president in August 2020 and who have since been promoted to generals, but he quickly joined them.
The 43-year-old is one of the junta's most public faces, usually seen in a beret and fatigues.
He was the voice on state television of the junta during the break with former colonial ruler France, and the strategic, military and political pivot towards Russia after the second coup.
For a few months in 2022, he was acting head of government after the premier suffered a stroke.
In September of that year, he issued a scathing attack on France, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and the leaders of several West African countries at the United Nations.
- Voice of the junta -
General Maiga also announced the cancellation of defence agreements with France and the ban on French media outlets RFI and France 24, and decried UN accusations of abuses against civilians committed by the army.
This year, the junta used him to declare the end of a major peace agreement with separatist rebels in the north, the suspension of political party activities, and the severing of diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
In 2023, it was General Maiga who said the presidential election originally slated for February 2024 would be "slightly postponed for technical reasons" and that new dates would be announced "at a later date".
No date has yet been announced.
The general has an extensive CV, including a doctorate in international security.
Trained as a member of the security forces, he has worked for the African Union, regional bloc ECOWAS and the UN stabilisation mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Unlike members of the junta such as its leader, General Goita, Maiga is not known to have taken part in combat.
- Lack of clarity -
He takes the helm of the government at a time when the junta remains silent about the possibility of a return to civilian rule.
General Goita is considered a likely candidate for any future presidential election, despite initial commitments by the military not to run for office at the end of the so-called transition period.
Civilian prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga was fired on Wednesday after he publicly condemned the lack of clarity regarding the end of the transition.
On Saturday, he said the confusion could pose "serious challenges and the risk of going backwards".
Kokalla Maiga, who was appointed by the military after the second coup and was seen as isolated, with little room for manoeuvre.
His comments on Saturday gave rise to speculation as to whether he was positioning himself for a possible future presidential election.
Since 2012, Mali has been plunged into a political and security crisis fuelled by attacks from jihadist and other armed groups, as well as a separatist struggle in the north.