{{Career technocrat Oumar Tatam Ly, made head of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s government on Thursday, took over from interim premier Diango Cissoko at a ceremony in the capital Bamako before turning to the job of picking his team of ministers.}}
“I am ready to meet the challenges and tasks that have been assigned to me by the president,” he said in a brief statement.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius described Ly’s appointment as “an important step in the establishment of democratic institutions of the new Mali”.
“Alongside President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the competence of Oumar Tatam Ly will be a valuable asset in confronting the challenges facing Mali and the Sahel. As Mali opens a new page it can count on France, which will be its partner, ally and friend,” he said in a statement.
Ly has spent most of the last two decades as a central bank functionary and is expected to rely on advisers with more political know-how while he chooses colleagues in a cabinet charged with returning stability to a country upended by a military coup and Islamist insurgency last year.
He began consultations with potential ministers immediately after being appointed on Thursday, his aides told media, although none would reveal who was in consideration for the big portfolios.
One member of Ly’s inner circle who has known the new premier for 20 years described him as a “reserved” and “exacting” man who disliked “amateurism”.
“I believe that the way the government operates could change. There will be accountability for results for all members of the government,” the aide told media.
France24
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