(Bloomberg) -- Mali’s military leaders fired Prime Minister Choguel Maiga and his entire government, days after the premier criticized the junta’s failure to implement a transition to civilian rule.
“The president of the republic, having regard to the constitution and the transition charter, has terminated the duties of the prime minister and the members of the government,” Alfousseyni Diawara, secretary-general in the presidency, said in a statement read on state television in the capital, Bamako, on Wednesday.
Maiga at the weekend censured the military government for failing to hand over power by a March 26 deadline and postponing elections indefinitely.
Mali has been under military rule since 2020, when then-Colonel Assimi Goita ousted the West African nation’s elected president, citing the previous regime’s failure to repel Islamist insurgents. Goita elevated himself to the rank of general in October. Since seizing power, the junta has cut ties with former allies in the West, and instead forged a closer relationship with Russia.
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