Mali’s interim government has issued a statement announcing the removal of Gen Amadou Sanogo, leader of a 2012 coup, as head of a military committee tasked with reforming the country’s armed forces.
The move gives a clean slate to president-elect Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, elected by a landslide in an August 11 run-off. It also marks the clearing of the final hurdle in the transitional period, a move that could see financial and military aid flow into the country.
Gen Sanogo had remained influential behind the scenes after the March 2012 coup which plunged Mali into crisis.
Once portrayed as a model democracy, Mali imploded when a military junta, frustrated by a lack of progress in tackling a Tuareg rebellion in the north, toppled President Amadou Toumani Toure in March last year. The Tuareg rebels and their Islamist allies seized upon the turmoil in the capital, Bamako, to launch a rapid advance, capturing two-thirds of the country. The al-Qaeda-linked fighters were finally defeated after the intervention of thousands of French soldiers in January. The massive operation broke the rebels’ grip over northern Mali.
After agreeing to step aside, Gen Sanogo, then still a captain, was appointed by Mali’s interim president Dioncounda Traore to head a committee tasked with reforming the Malian army.
“Interim president Dioncounda Traore repealed the decree appointing Gen Amadou Haya Sanogo head of the monitoring committee for the reform of the defence forces and security,” said a statement issued after a cabinet meeting held on Wednesday (August 28).
The interim government had promoted Sanogo on August 14 from captain to a four-star general, in a surprise move that angered human rights campaigners, who accused his military junta of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances.
But western diplomats said the promotion was designed to usher Gen Sanogo into retirement.
