Former Malian Defense Minister Colonel Bah Ndaw was appointed interim President of the Republic on Monday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports with reference to a statement by the head of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (NCSP), Colonel Assimi Goita.
The decision was made after a meeting of the electoral college and consultations between the military and representatives of leading social and political movements in Mali. The interim President is expected to implement Mali's transition to civilian rule and hold parliamentary and presidential elections within the next 18 months. At the same time, Colonel Assimi Goita was appointed to the post of Vice-President.
Earlier, the summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded that the military who seized power in Mali transfer supreme power to an interim President from among civilians or retired military personnel. The deadline was set for September 23.
Born in 1950, Bah Ndaw shortly headed the Malian Ministry of Defense in the spring of 2014 by decree of the President of Mali that time, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Bah Ndaw's military career began in 1973 when he volunteered for the army. Three years later, he was sent to the Malian air force, where he rose to the post of chief of the air staff. According to the Eibamako Malian news portal, Bah Ndaw was on an internship in the USSR, where he learned to fly a helicopter and knows Russian. He also studied military science in France.
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Based on materials from TASS