The ruling junta in Mali has appointed a new chief of staff and made several new appointments to various key positions in the army and security two weeks after the putsch, according to decrees made public Wednesday, September 2.
General Oumar Diarra is appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armies by decree signed by the head of the junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, and dated September 1. He replaces General Abdoulaye Coulibaly at the head of an army which has lost hundreds of men in recent years in the fight against the jihadists, despite the support of French, foreign and UN forces.
General Coulibaly is still being held by the junta as well as certain high-ranking officials and high political figures arrested during the military coup that overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta on August 18. Mr. Keïta himself is under house arrest at his home, with restricted access to the internet and telephone and no visitation, according to his entourage. The new chief of staff is considered a man “of integrity and rigor”, according to military sources. His main task will be to “reform the Malian army and allow it to defend the homeland,” a junta official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The junta has also carried out a series of replacements for sensitive posts: Colonel Lassana Doumbia becomes Director General of State Security (intelligence), Colonel Jean Dao Chief of Staff of the National Guard, component of the army, and General Souleymane Doucouré secretary general of the Ministry of Defense. General Doucouré, previously Chief of Staff of the Air Force, was arrested after the putsch.
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