Traore sworn in as interim president of Mali

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Traore sworn in as interim president of Mali

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Dioncounda Traore has sworn in as interim president of Mali for next 40 days.

12 April,2012 03:55 pm

Traore took the oath at a ceremony in the capital Bamako after taking over from the military officers who staged last months coup in the troubled West African country.Dioncounda Traore, who heads the country’s national assembly, is to serve as Mali’s president for 40 days, according to the constitution. Regional mediators, though, already acknowledge it will take longer than that for the country to organize new elections.The deal to move Mali back to constitutional rule was hammered out between the head of the military men that seized power in March and the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.Toure was just months from finishing his last term when soldiers on March 21 stormed the presidential palace, sending Toure into hiding and overturning a democratic tradition stretching back more than two decades.The soldiers claimed they had grabbed power because Toure had mishandled a rebellion that began in northern Mali in January. However, it was only after Toure was ousted that the Tuareg rebels succeeded in taking the three largest cities in the region and declared independence.