The government of the vast, poverty-stricken west African state of Mali resigned without public explanation on Saturday after only four months in office, but President Amadou Toumani Toure asked his prime minister to remain in office.
The 21-member government of Prime Minister Ahmed Mohamed Ag Hamani was formed on June 14, one month after the election of Toure, a former military ruler who stood down for an elected civilian government in 1992 in the sub-Saharan country.
Sources close to the presidency said the prime minister was asked to remain in office to form a new government because of his good performance over the last four months. He had been asked to form a government which would reflect the composition of the recently-elected national assembly, the sources added.
The key posts in the outgoing team were held by ministers close to President Toure. The government oversaw legislative elections in July and early August in which neither of Mali’s two dominant political blocs won a clear majority in the 139-member parliament.
In the absence of an official explanation for the government’s resignation, analysts believe a change of government had been expected after the election of the new national assembly as President Toure had always insisted he wished to rule with the majority to emerge from elections.
The general election last summer re-shaped the political landscape of this vast country — one of the poorest in the world — but none of the major party groups succeeded in obtaining a working majority. The former French colony is Africa’s third gold producer and second cotton producer. But hard-hit by drought and famine in the 1970s and 1980s, it is one of the 10% countries in the world, according to the United Nations. – Sapa-AFP