Former Mali foreign minister Moctar Ouane named transitional premier

Former Malian foreign minister Moctar Ouane has been named prime minister by the country’s interim president Bah Ndaw, state television announced Sunday.

Ouane, 64, served as foreign minister between 2004 and 2011 during Amadou Toumani Toure’s presidency.

The members of the new PM’s government will be unveiled Tuesday, an officer from the military junta in power since Mali’s August 18 coup told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Mali’s neighbours in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had insisted that the junta name a civilian to the job of government chief after former colonel and defence minister Bah Ndaw was installed.

A civilian PM was the precondition for ECOWAS to lift sanctions it imposed two days after the coup removing president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, which the junta claims inflicted no casualties.

Ndaw was sworn in Friday before Mali’s supreme court with junta chief Colonel Assimi Goita as his deputy, placing Goita in charge of defence and security issues.

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