Mali Prime Minister Choguel Maiga has been placed on forced rest by his doctor on Saturday after months of intense exertion, his office has said.

“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 on Saturday.

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

An adviser denied earlier media reports on Paris-based Jeune Afrique magazine that Maiga had been hospitalised after suffering a stroke.

Mali’s ruling military government named the former opposition leader as prime minister of the transitional government it leads in June of last year, after a military coup in August 2020.

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

Maiga repeatedly condemned France for its “abandonment” of Mali in its conflict against armed groups in the country, which has been the epicentre of a bloody 10-year-old campaign by armed groups in the region.

Relations between Mali and its former coloniser deteriorated in January when the military government went back on an agreement to organise elections in February and proposed holding power until 2025.

Maiga’s transitional government has said it will hold elections in 2024.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK