Mali’s junta leader, Colonel Assimi Goita, has promoted himself to the highest military rank of army general. The announcement, made by the Malian Council of Ministers on Wednesday, also included the promotion of five influential colonels to four-star generals. According to analysts, the move clearly indicates the junta’s unwillingness to transfer power to civilian rule four years after they seized power in a military coup. According to Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, the promotions mean that the junta shows no intention of stepping down from the country’s leadership anytime soon. Prior to Goita’s promotion, only two former heads of state in the country’s history had held the rank of army general.
SOURCE: AFRICA NEWS
