Mali junta arrests former Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga

Mali’s former Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga was arrested Tuesday, in response to his entourage and a judicial supply, a number of months after he was dismissed for criticising the nation’s ruling junta.

Plagued by jihadist and separatist violence, Mali has been led by the navy since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

Maiga’s detention comes days after the junta carried out dozens of arrests to quash an alleged plot throughout the military’s ranks to topple the federal government in flip.

His sacking in November 2024 appeared on the time to verify that the military, which went again on a pledge handy the reins again to civilians by the tip of March 2024, had tightened its grip on energy.

Maiga was arrested in relation to an investigation into allegations of “misappropriation of public funds” made in a report by Mali’s auditor basic, his lawyer Cheick Oumar Konare stated in an announcement despatched to AFP.

“Several of his former allies” had been additionally in custody, Konare added.

Having been named to the submit following the second coup in 2021, Maiga was fired after he publicly condemned the shortage of readability over when the navy would quit energy within the West African nation.

He was extensively seen as remoted and with out room for manoeuvre.

His strikes to distance himself from the junta sparked months of hypothesis that he can be sacked, and he was quickly changed by a namesake officer, General Abdoulaye Maiga.

Before the coup, Maiga was a key determine within the Movement of June 5/Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5/RFP) against former civilian chief Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was toppled by the military in August 2020.

At the tip of February he insisted that the “breakup is complete” between his motion and the junta, led by General Assimi Goita.

Besides his sidelining by the navy, Maiga additionally complained of “arrests and extrajudicial detentions” of members of his M5/RFP.