BAMAKO: Mali’s new Prime Minister Diango Cissoko started drawing up a new unity government yesterday that could bring the consensus needed to launch a foreign military intervention in the Islamist-occupied north.
While Cissoko pledged to regain control of the country’s north, international condemnation poured in over the ouster of his predecessor Cheick Modibo Diarra and meddling by a former junta still seen as pulling the strings in the capital.
The new premier has not mentioned the international force which has been mired in uncertainty, but observers say Diarra was seen as an obstacle to reaching consensus and a new government could pave the way to its deployment. EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton yesterday hailed Cissoko’s nomination, saying that he was a gifted negotiator with good knowledge of Mali’s political scene who had an ability to bring people together.
Gilles Yabi of the International Crisis Group said that “optimistically” Cissoko could “unblock the situation. He is a more reliable, competent and impartial representative than Diarra was.”
But he warned the influence of the ex-junta who ousted government in March — and has openly opposed the military option in dealing with the Islamists — could continue to set the tone in Bamako.
France, the United States, United Nations, African and European Union have roundly condemned the way in which Diarra resigned.
The regional bloc Ecowas’ chief mediator, Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore said yesterday that Diarra’s resignation had not “respected the rules of law.”
France, a staunch backer of the military option to drive out the Islamists, said the most recent turmoil in Bamako “underlines the need to deploy an African stabilisation force.” AFP
