Dioncounda Traore was sworn in as Mali's interim leader Thursday, in a move the country says restores constitutional order, according to dpa. The deal to install Traore was struck on Friday after junta leaders - who toppled the old government in a March 22 coup - agreed to stand down, following talks with regional body ECOWAS, to stand down. Traore, the head of the country's national assembly, took the oath on Thursday morning, according to local media reports. Mali's constitution allows him to remain in power for 40 days in the run-up to fresh elections. The March 22 coup forced former president Amadou Toumani Toure into hiding. He had been due to step down later this month ahead of elections originally scheduled for April 29. Traore, a 70-year-old former mathematician, had been due to run in those elections. However, the Mali he temporarily inherits is a different country than that in which he had expected to stand for president. Separatist rebels in the north-east declared the region of Azawad - which stretches from Mali's desert border with Algeria to its south-eastern border with Burkina Faso - independent last week, prompting an international outcry. -- SPA
