Mali will be led by an ex-officer, before the civilians return to the head of the country, in a transitional period remaining under the influence of the junta.
Bah N’Daw, 70, will have to come out of retirement. This former colonel and short-lived Minister of Defense in 2014 was appointed president of the transition in Mali. It is he who will rule the country for several months before a return of the civilians at his head, in a transitional period remaining under the control of the junta.
The “transition charter” indeed provides for an 18-month transition, to which ECOWAS has shown itself ready to agree after initially insisting on a maximum of 12 months.
As decided on Monday by a committee set up by the junta in power since the putsch of August 18, the transitional president is flanked by a vice-president endowed with important security prerogatives, called upon to replace him in the event of a incapacity and who is none other than the current head of the junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta.
It was the latter who announced the choice made by a college of a little over fifteen members, including seven from the junta, the rest of the places going to the so-called June 5 movement, to the unions, to the elders. rebel groups or civil society.
The committee thus settled weeks of quarrels between Malians, who were divided on the civilian or military nature of the coming transition. The committee members had little choice: the junta arrived in the room with the two names and the committee “took note”, participants reported.
The committee spoke out under pressure from Mali’s neighbors who have been calling from the start for a rapid return to constitutional order and the appointment as soon as possible of a civilian president and prime minister.
A former helicopter pilot trained in the former USSR!
Colonel-Major Bah N’Daw, nicknamed “the great” by his intimate friends because of his height (1.95 m), is a former helicopter pilot trained in the former USSR and who was aide-de-camp to the General Moussa Traoré, dictator who ruled the country without division for 22 years until 1991 and who died last week.
He was appointed Minister of Defense in May 2014 after the defeat of the Malian forces against the Tuareg rebels in their stronghold of Kidal (northeast). But only stayed in office for a few months.
Previously, recalls RFI, Bah N’Daw was appointed Chief of Staff of the Air Force, then director of the Veterans Office from 2008 to his retirement in 2012. Polyglot, the new president of transition du Mali speaks French, English and Russian in particular. RFI emphasizes that it is above all a pure product of the Malian army. Originally from San, in the region of Ségou, he began his training in the country.
After his baccalaureate, he was incorporated into the army, where he was part of the 7th promotion of the Kati joint military school. He then completed this training at the War School in France, then in the former USSR, where he completed an internship as a helicopter pilot.
Officer of the National Order of Mali, he was also decorated with the Medal of Military Merit and the Medal of National Merit, specifies the BBC, recalling that Bah N’Daw is known for his rigor in his work. Despite his brilliant career, “there is basically no man for the job in the country,” researcher Baba Dakono told AFP. “There are personalities who are less divisive and I think he is one of the personalities who are the least divisive.”
The figure of compromise!
Bah N’Daw will be sworn in on Friday, said Colonel Goïta. It is up to the president to appoint a prime minister, under a charter adopted by the junta to organize the transition. The ECOWAS also claims that it is a civilian.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Mali from its decision-making bodies on August 20 and imposed a financial and commercial embargo on this vast, poor and landlocked country. She had indicated last week that she would lift these sanctions as soon as the junta had acceded to its demands.
The ECOWAS and partners from Mali like France are worried about increased instability spreading even more through the Sahel jihadism and intercommunal violence to which the country is plagued.
Colonel Assimi Goïta promised Monday night to win “the war” against the jihadists, in a televised speech on the eve of the national holiday. But the ECOWAS also wants to be concerned by the bad example that would give a junta maintained durably in power.
The new masters of Bamako, who promised upon their arrival to return the orders to civilians in the long term, wanted to retain control over the transition. The appointment of a former soldier seems a way of compromise.
In a flash interrupting the national television programs, Colonel Goïta, still wearing his camouflage uniform and his green beret, referred to international positions by evoking the “global context” and the international commitments of Mali to justify the choices of the day. The trail of a retired soldier had been emerging for several days.
Reference: https://www.bbc.com/afrique/region-54238658
