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Conflict-hit Mali names new government

By AFP
Mali Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, seen in Algiers on August 30, 2015, replaced key security and justice posts in the government.  By Farouk Batiche AFPFile
SEP 25, 2015 LISTEN
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, seen in Algiers on August 30, 2015, replaced key security and justice posts in the government. By Farouk Batiche (AFP/File)

Bamako (AFP) - Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita named a new government on Thursday, with cabinet members replaced in the key security and justice posts in the conflict-hit west African nation.

Prime Minister Modibo Keita's second cabinet since his appointment in January, announced by presidential decree, has 31 members in addition to the premier, against 29 in the previous administration.

Salif Traore, a former regional governor, takes over the security and civil protection portfolio from Sada Samake while Sanogo Aminata Malle, a magistrate, becomes justice minister, replacing Mamadou Diarra.

No official reason was given for the departures but a presidential aide told AFP the "management of the difficult security situation" and the "slow pace of change in the world of justice" explained the decision.

The new government takes over at a crucial juncture in the country's efforts to achieve peace in the restive north.

Divided into rival armed factions, plagued by drug trafficking and at the mercy of jihadism, the region has struggled for stability since Mali gained independence in 1960.

The militant Tuareg movement has launched four uprisings since 1962 to fight the army over the territory they claim as their homeland.

In spring 2012 the north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda who imposed a brutal interpretation of sharia law on the region, with the country reeling from a military coup.

The Islamists were largely ousted by the French-led Operation Serval launched in January 2013, although they have since launched sporadic attacks from desert hideouts on security forces.

Anti-government and loyalist armed groups came to the table earlier this year under the supervision of neighbouring Algeria and the United Nations for talks which led to the Algiers Accord.

But progress on implementing the peace deal has been slow, and the process has been undermined by tribal infighting and a new Islamist push into central and southern Mali.

In the latest of a series of recent attacks outside the north, two policemen and two civilians were killed on Saturday in the village of Bih, near the Burkina Faso border.

Earlier this week the government announced the indefinite postponement of local elections, pointing to poor security, the absence of government in several areas and a lack of progress on refugee returns.

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