Mali PM Cheick Modibo Diarra Resigns after Army Arrest

Afrik Update

News/Africa
Mali

           

   The prime minister of Mali has resigned on state television, hours after being arrested by soldiers who were behind a military coup in March.

Soldiers arrested Mali's prime minister and ordered him to resign because he "doesn't get along" with the army captain who led a coup in March in the African nation, a spokesman for the military junta said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra, dressed in a dark suit and his forehead glistening with sweat, went on TV at 4 a.m. to announce his resignation.

"Our country is living through a period of crisis. Men and women who are worried about the future of our nation are hoping for peace," he said. "It's for this reason that I, Cheikh Modibo Diarra, am resigning along with my entire government on this day, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. I apologize before the entire population of Mali."

He was arrested by the military in his home hours earlier, forced into a car and driven to the Kati military camp, the sprawling military base where the March 21 coup was launched. 

The developments indicate the military is still the real power in Mali, whose northern half fell to Islamist insurgents in the wake of the coup, even though the soldiers made a show months ago of handing power back to civilians.