Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Saturday appointed former defense minister and foreign minister and intelligence chief, Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga as the new prime minister, according to a decree read on state television, Reuters reports.
Maiga’s appointment comes after his predecessor, Abdoulaye Idrissa Maiga and his entire cabinet resigned on Friday.
Idrissa Maiga did not give a reason for his resignation but he is widely expected to either manage Keita’s campaign for next year’s election or to run in Keita’s place.
The new government will be the fifth to serve under Keita since his election in 2013. Usually fewer than half the ministers appointed to a new government have served in the previous cabinet.
Boubeye Maiga hails from Gao in Mali’s north, where Islamist militants regularly attack soldiers, U.N. peacekeepers and civilians. They have increasingly used the region as a launchpad for attacks into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso.
