Mali's premier hospitalised after illness: officials

The prime minister serving in Mali's military junta has been hospitalised after suffering an unspecified illness, one of his advisers and a doctor at the clinic treating him told AFP Saturday.

"The Prime Minister Choguel Maiga has indeed been admitted to a private clinic in Bamako," one of his advisors, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP. "I can tell you that at this stage, he's okay," he added.

A doctor at the clinic confirmed that the prime minister had been admitted for "a serious illness", adding: "I can tell you that he's recovering quite well."

Choguel Kokkola Maiga served in several ministerial positions and was three times a candidate for the presidency before junta leader Colonel Assisi Gita appointed him prime minister in June 2021.

Since then he has repeatedly condemned France for its "abandonment" of Mali in its conflict against jihad ist forces in the country.

France is reconfiguring its position in the Sahel after falling out with the military junta in Mali, the epicentre of the bloody 10-year-old jihadist campaign in the region.

Maiga has himself been criticised for several months by politicians inside Mali, including some of his own former allies in the M5-RFP movement opposition alliance, of which he was one of the cofounders.

Some of his critics have called for his resignation.