Mali PM on ‘forced rest’, his office says

BAMAKO (Reuters) – Mali Prime Minister Choguel Maiga has been ordered by his doctor to rest after months of intense exertion, his office said on Saturday, while an adviser denied media reports that he had been hospitalised after suffering a stroke.

“After 14 months of working without a break, the prime minister, head of government, Choguel Kokalla Maiga was placed on forced rest by his doctor,” his office said on its Facebook page.

“He will resume his activities next week, God-willing.”

Paris-based Jeune Afrique magazine first reported that Maiga had suffered a stroke, citing sources close to him. An adviser to Maiga, reached by Reuters, denied this.

Mali’s ruling junta named Maiga, a former opposition leader, as prime minister of the transitional government it leads in June of last year. The junta came to power in an August 2020 coup and has promised to organise democratic elections in 2024.

Maiga has been one of the government’s most outspoken voices in repeated public rows with West African neighbours and international partners who have criticised its military cooperation with Russian mercenaries and repeated election delays.

Earlier on Saturday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali announced it would resume troop rotations on Monday, one month after Malian authorities suspended them and accused foreign soldiers of entering the country without permission.

(Reporting by Fadimata Kontao; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Christina Fincher)