AFRICA NEWS
Mali orders graft probe into social housing scandal
by AFP Staff Writers
Bamako (AFP) Feb 15, 2022

Mali's strongman leader Colonel Assimi Goita has ordered a probe into social housing that was allegedly awarded to people considered close to the ruling junta, one of his staff members said Tuesday.

A list naming beneficiaries of social-housing units in Mali's capital Bamako has circulated on social media in recent weeks, provoking outrage in the impoverished Sahel state.

Several people on the list are thought to have close links to Mali's army-dominated government, which has set tackling corruption as a major objective.

Army officers led by Goita deposed elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in an August 2020 coup, after weeks of mass protests against perceived government corruption, among other issues.

The social-housing affair has sparked broad anger, and prompted two well-known junta supporters to demand action.

"We cannot fight corruption under previous regimes and condone the same practices," said Adama Ben Diarra, a member of Mali's interim legislature, on social media.

Nouhoum Sarr, another legislator, also called for wrongdoers to be held to account, stating on social media that adopting corrupt practices was "not the reason for our fight against the old regime".

A member of Goita's staff, who declined to be named, told AFP that the strongman had ordered an investigation into the affair.

On February 7, Mali's interim Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga told foreign diplomats that tackling corruption and delivering security were priorities for his government.

Swathes of Mali lie outside of government control due to a brutal Islamist insurgency that first emerged in 2012, and has since spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.


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Macron expected to announce Mali withdrawal
Paris (AFP) Feb 15, 2022
French President Emmanuel Macron this week will announce that French troops will be withdrawn from Mali and redeployed elsewhere in the Sahel following a breakdown in ties with the country's military regime, concurring sources say. Several security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Macron's announcement to end the nine-year French mission in Mali will coincide with a European Union-African Union summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. France initially deployed troops ... read more

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