Ex-Mali PM hands over

14 December 2012 - 02:02 By Sapa-AFP
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Mali's new Prime Minister Diango Cissoko (L) and Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore stand at the Presidential residence in Bamako on December 12, 2012. Cissoko is a veteran civil servant who has served several regimes over the past three decades and is now tasked with reuniting a nation split in two by Islamic extremists.
Mali's new Prime Minister Diango Cissoko (L) and Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore stand at the Presidential residence in Bamako on December 12, 2012. Cissoko is a veteran civil servant who has served several regimes over the past three decades and is now tasked with reuniting a nation split in two by Islamic extremists.
Image: HABIBOU KOUYATE

MALI'S former premier, who was strong-armed into resigning by an ex-junta, met his replacement, Prime Minister Diango Cissoko, yesterday for an official handover of power in Bamako.

Cheick Modibo Diarra had not appeared in public since announcing his resignation on Tuesday after being seized by soldiers and later placed under house arrest.

He arrived at the premier's headquarters under military protection.

A former state ombudsman, Cissoko was appointed on Tuesday. Though the international community has denounced the manner in which Diarra resigned, many are hopeful a new government will give a renewed momentum to the country's transition.

Diarra said his main priorities were to hold elections and wrest back control of northern Mali from Islamic hardliners who have occupied it for eight months and imposed sharia law.  

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