Mali's new president has been sworn into office, five weeks after the overthrow of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.

The West African bloc ECOWAS will likely decide on Friday whether to lift potentially crippling sanctions imposed on Mali after last month's coup, its mediator said.

Head of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, Colonel Assimi Goïta, issued a nationally televised announcement pronouncing Ba N'Daou, previously the Minister of Defence, as the Malian transitional president appointed by a committee set up by the junta in power since ousting — in a coup d-état, ex-president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18th.

Mali’s political future remains uncertain after a mutiny by the country’s soldiers and the subsequent overthrow of the government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last August. The coup was occasioned by a popular protest across the country demanding the resignation of Keita, who came into office in 2013.

The African Union (AU) has urged the military junta in Mali to quickly appoint civilian leaders to manage an 18-month transition towards elections following last month's coup.

Mali's former president Moussa Traoré will be buried on Friday at the Place d'Armes du Genie Militaire, the former air base in the capital, Bamako.