Mali – On Thursday, the Ministry of Territorial Administration revealed that President Ibrahim Keita won re-election with 67 per cent of the vote in a run-off against opposition rival Soumaila Cisse.
The victory hands Keita a second five-year term in the mostly desert West African country where militant violence and claims of fraud by the opposition marred the poll.
Now, Keita faces a giant task of lifting Mali out of a spiral of Islamist and ethnic violence in the center and northern part of the country where attacks worsened in the months leading up to the vote despite the presence of UN and French troops.