Mali PM and Staffs Resign After Massacre of 160 Muslim

Bamako, MINA – Mali Prime Minister, Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga and his entire staffs resigned on Thursday, four weeks after the massacre of around 160 ethnic Muslim Fulani by a number of men posing as hunters.

“Mali President accepted the resignation of Prime Minister and members of government,” said a statement from the office of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Voice of America (VOA) reported.

There is no other reason for the resignation of Prime Minister Maiga. Legislators on Wednesday discussed about the possibility of a vote of no confidence in government because of the massacre and failure to disarm militias or repel Islamic militants.

Massacre on March 23 was suspected by hunters from Dogon community in Ogossagou, a village in central Mali that inhabited by ethnic Fulani herd tribesmen, is a bloody massacre even in the standard of Mali’s continued violence.

The attack was countered for another deadly attack by an affiliated Jihadist group at an army post which killed at least 23 soldiers and also in the central region of Mali. Many ethnic Muslim Fulani are in the ranks of affiliated groups.

Mali authorities have detained five people suspected of participating in the massacre. But they have not succeeded yet in disarming the militia that are regulating it, even though Maiga and Keita promised to do so.

Most of Sahara Desert has been in turmoil since Tuareg rebels and jihadi allies took over half of the country in 2012, which then encouraged France to intervene them back the following year. (T/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)