09/19/2013 20:44 GMT
by Serge Daniel
BAMAKO, September 19, 2013 (AFP) - Leaders from across Africa and France watched the inauguration of Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in front of thousands of his supporters on Thursday as the nation entered a new era of democracy after months of political chaos.
Idriss Deby of Chad, the Ivory Coast's Alassane Ouattara and Moroccan king Mohammed VI were prominent guests among numerous heads of state invited to welcome the new leader, elected by a landslide on August 11.
French President Francois Hollande took centre stage at the 55,000-seat March 26 Stadium in the capital Bamako, with the ceremony drawing a line under military action launched by Paris in January to oust armed Islamists from northern Mali.
"We are at the successful conclusion, because it is a victory, a big victory for Mali that we celebrate together today," Hollande said to loud applause.
The ceremony began with Hollande and Keita standing before the Malian flag for the national anthem before Hollande addressed the crowd ahead of musical and cultural performances and military marches.
"We have won this war (but) France has paid a price for the liberation," said Hollande, honouring seven French soldiers who died in Mali and paying tribute to troops who were wounded in combat.
He also honoured Mali's soldiers and the "brave Chadian soldiers" who recorded at least 38 deaths during the campaign.
"Today, Mali has carved out its destiny, it has chosen its president," said Hollande, vowing that Paris would remain at its former colony's side and help it on the road to reconciliation.
Chadian President Deby called for vigilance among the people of Mali and the region, warning that although "terrorists" had been defeated the "gangrene remains and can return at any moment".
Keita pledged to unite Mali and end endemic corruption when he was sworn in on September 4 to lead the deeply-divided west African nation's emergence from months of political crisis sparked by a military coup in March last year.
He gave a much more low-profile speech on Thursday, thanking the assembled heads of state and saying Mali was linked by "a pact of honour and a pact of blood to its allies".
Keita to tackle war-hit economy
Army officers angry at the level of support they had received to combat a separatist Tuareg rebellion in the north overthrew the democratically-elected government of president Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22, 2012.
In the chaos that followed, the Tuareg seized control of an area larger than France before being ousted by Al-Qaeda-linked groups that imposed a brutal interpretation of Islamic law on the local population, carrying out amputations and executions.
Their actions drew worldwide condemnation and their march south prompted France to launch a military offensive in January at Mali's behest to oust the Islamists.
Keita emerged as Mali's new leader in presidential elections deemed the most successful since the country gained independence from France in 1960, allowing Paris to begin withdrawing most of the 4,500 troops it had sent in.
Mali's new government on Wednesday set November 24 as the date for the first parliamentary elections since the coup, with France expected to keep 1,000 soldiers on the ground until at least the end of the year.
"The question is, should we stay to ensure security during the election? The answer is yes," Hollande told reporters after the ceremony.
"Our work will only really be finished when all the elections are completed. And these parliamentary elections must be as transparent as the presidential election."
Keita's workload over the coming months will include tackling an economy battered by political chaos and war, as well as healing ethnic divisions in the north and managing the return of 500,000 people who fled an Islamist insurgency.
In a wide-ranging news conference after the ceremony Hollande was questioned on a number of global issues, including French involvement in both Africa and Syria.
The president said he would hold a mini-summit with regional leaders while in Bamako on setting up an enlarged peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic, which has been occupied by rebels since March.
He also said he was in favour of "controlled" shipments of weapons, involving France's international allies, to the rebel Free Syrian Army, which is fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
On the subject of French hostages held by Al Qaeda's north African branch, he said he had asked leaders of countries across the Sahel region present in Bamako for help finding "the best means of communication, the best contacts, to recover our compatriots".
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb kidnapped four Frenchmen from a uranium compound in northern Niger three years ago along and abducted a Dutchman, a Swede and a South African from Timbuktu in northern Mali in November 2011.
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