Malian Constitutional Court Declares Vice President Assimi Goita as Interim President

Mali’s Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that the offices of vice president and interim president would be combined, making Vice President Colonel Assimi Goita the head of state.

“Starting from the notification about this decree, the Vice President of the transitional period will have a title of the President of the transitional period and the head of state,” Article 3 of the court’s ruling says.

Neither the court nor Goita has mentioned the empty offices of the prime ministry and defense ministry.

According to Goita, they had “sabotaged” the transition back to democratic governance by firing two army colonels appointed to head the defense and security ministries without asking him first. He pledged at the time that the timeline prescribing 2022 elections would remain unchanged.

Goita’s interim government is a precarious alliance between this cadre of highly-trained soldiers and the mass movement of protesters and opposition figures that demonstrated in the streets of Bamako and other cities for months before the August coup. The June 5 Movement – Gathering of Patriotic Forces (M5-RFP) umbrella had reportedly been pressuring Ndaw to reduce the military’s role in the transitional government, leading to the cabinet reshuffle on Monday that became the impetus for the coup.

Sourse: sputniknews.com