Mali New President Sworn in, Threatens &Lsquo;total War’

Mali’s new interim president on Thursday warned that his army will engage in a “total war” with Tuareg-led rebels in the north, media reports said.

Dioncounda Traore, the former speaker for parliament, took office on Thursday after a junta headed by mid-level Captain Amadou Sanogo ceded power. In March, Sanogo and fellow members of the army overthrew the government of Amadou Toumani Toure, who officially announced his resignation over the weekend.

“I am president of a country that loves peace,” Traore said when he was sworn into office, reported Al Jazeera. “I call on the rebels to halt all abuses.”

Tuareg insurgents took over towns in the north after Sanogo’s junta took power, exploiting the gap in Mali’s already weak military. After taking towns and declaring the north to be the independent country of Azawad, the rebels announced a ceasefire. 

“We will not hesitate to wage a total and relentless war,” Traore said, while adding that he was prepared first to negotiate with the rebels.

The rebels and Islamist militants, he said, need to “stop the … pillaging, the rapes, they must leave the cities that they have occupied,”

At the same time Traore said he was arranging for a return to democracy in civilian rule. Al Jazeera reported that under a deal laid out by regional powers, he must hold elections within 40 to 48 days.

President George W. Bush and Mali President Amadou Touré meet in the Oval Office at the White House. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)