With our correspondent in Bamako, Serge Daniel

Previously, there were only five military officers among the fifteen regional governors in Mali. But with the new regional division, there are now thirteen military officers and seven civilians for the twenty regions.

The vice-president of the transition, Colonel Assimi Goïta, in charge of security and defense issues, and the Malian minister of territorial administration — his classmate — had a controlling hand in these appointments.

Implementing the new defense policy

In Mali, the regional governor is the representative of central authority. He is a key figure within the country. In Gao and Taoudeni, two regions in the north of the country, or in Mopti, in the center, military officers are heading the regions.

According to a close associate of the vice-president, these appointments are intended to implement the new defense and security strategy for the Malian population.

Among the ranks of the local political class, these appointments are already causing friction. The same reaction from human rights advocates, who recall that the name of a newly appointed governor appears in a recent UN report for "questionable decision-making" during a planned redeployment of elements of the Malian army in the North in late 2019.