adminCissoko is a former public mediator for the republic, according to the state-owned newspaper L’Essor.
In a brief online report, the newspaper states that interim President Dioncounda Traore signed two decrees on Tuesday, one removing Diarra from office and the second naming Cissoko as his successor.
“Things happened very quickly yesterday,” the report says.
Diarra abruptly resigned on Tuesday on state television, a day after he was arrested by soldiers loyal to a former coup leader.
The development was seen as another blow to the stability of a country once hailed as a model of democracy in Africa, but derailed this year by a coup and an uprising of Islamist militants.
It is not yet clear what impact the change in leadership will have on regional and international efforts to tackle advances by the militants in the country’s north.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said on Tuesday he was “troubled” by the resignation and called again for a cessation of military interference in politics. He called for Mali to hold elections and restore peace and stability.
Diarra, a former NASA engineer who holds US citizenship, was set to fly to Paris for medical care on Monday. But he received notice that his bags had been removed from the plane he was on, according to an aide who spoke to CNN on condition they would not be named.
Diarra went home. Three pick-up trucks filled with armed soldiers pulled up late at night and took him away to military headquarters in Kati, five miles north of the capital Bamako, the aide told CNN. Former coup leader Capitaine Amadou Sanogo met Diarra.
Before dawn, armed soldiers brought the former prime minister to broadcaster ORTM and gave him a statement to read, said TV technician Adama Haidara. “I cannot say if he was forced,” Haidara said. “He looked unharmed.”
In his televised appearance on the military-controlled broadcaster, Diarra did not offer a reason for his resignation, except for a vague statement that he solemnly delivered.
“Our country Mali is going through the most difficult period in its history,” he said. “During this time of crisis, the men and women of this country — uncertain of what is going to happen to their country — find themselves in an unfortunate situation.
“That’s why I, Cheikh Modibo Diarra, have resigned with all my government, on this day, Tuesday, 11 of December of 2012.”
Diarra’s whereabouts are as yet unknown, but his aide said on Tuesday he believed he was still in Bamako. He was not harmed when he was arrested, the aide said.
“The arrest was made by a small force loyal to Sanogo,” army spokesperson Colonel Idrissa Traore said. “The majority of the military officers in Bamako were not informed about the arrest of Mr Diarra, and no one knows what will happen now.”
Mali held its first democratic elections in 1992 after decades of military rule, and had a strong democracy for the most part. — CNN.
Online Reporter