Insecurity is so bad there that Prime Minister Choguel Maïga had to hastily cancel a carefully choreographed visit to the towns of Bourem and Ansongho on 20 and 21 February which was designed to prove that all of Mali was now accessible...
PM missing in action The angry often stormy Malian Prime Minister Choguel Maïga has disappeared from public view without explanation sparking wide speculation...
Choguel Maïga seemed to suit the prickly style of Col Assimi Goïta who appointed him after staging a second coup to dispose of a civilian transitional administration he thought was too accommodating to the West...
Prospects for the deployment of an AU force are not helped by difficult relations between Bamako and Ecowas which has imposed tough sanctions to pressure Goïta and his prime minister Choguel Maïga into agreeing to a shorter transition to democracy...
Vol 63 No 8 |
- FRANCE
- AFRICA
Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum welcomed the cut which was condemned by Mali's Prime Minister Choguel Maïga as 'abandonment in mid-flight' after which France and other EU states pulled Barkhane and Takuba out of from Mali as trust was lost (AC Vol 63 No 4 France moves out of Mali)...
In late 2021 Issa Kaou Djim was stripped of his position as fourth vice-president of the Conseil national de transition given a suspended six-month prison sentence and fined 500 000 CFA francs after he criticised Prime Minister Choguel Maïga on social media...
But the abrasive Choguel Maïga the current premier has fiercely criticised the Algiers deal chafing at the Mali army's absence from Kidal the historic centre of secessionist fighters (AC Vol 62 No 14 Paris makes up with the junta)...
In front of diplomats in February Prime Minister Choguel Maïga accused Minusma of using aircraft to spy on FAMA bases (AC Vol 62 No 20 Toxic relationship in the Sahel)...
Buoyed by apparent gains made by the Forces Armées Maliennes (FAMA the armed forces) and Wagner elements in recent months in central Mali Prime Minister Choguel Maïga has in recent weeks lauded the growing strength of the national forces...
Vol 63 No 5 |
- RUSSIA
- AFRICA
Mali's ties with Moscow date back to the authoritarian Moussa Traoré presidency and have been continued by the current prime minister Choguel Maïga a vocal critic of France and defender of security ties with Russia...
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It is a difficult sell domestically where public opinion – as right across the Sahel – has been enthused by Mali's junta leader Col Assimi Goïta and the populist-nationalist rhetoric of his premier Choguel Maïga in defying France...
That reminds both sides of President Emmanuel Macron's fury after Bamako's prime minister Choguel Maïga told the UN that France had abandoned Mali 'in mid-flight'...
Col Goïta and Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop have avoided Choguel Maïga-style rhetoric while defending their regime's sovereign right to work with the international forces of its choosing...