BAMAKO (Reuters) – Mali’s president, Amadou Toumani Toure, has appointed Cisse Mariam Kaidama as prime minister to replace Modibo Sidibe, who resigned last week, an official statement said.

Cisse, 57, a former minister, is the first woman to hold the top government position in the gold producing West African state. No further detail was given in the communique issued by the presidency late Sunday.

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The government said a new government would be formed after Sidibe, who had served since 2007, resigned.

Toure has run the West African state, Africa’s third largest gold miner and a major regional cotton grower, since 2002, and won his second and final five-year term in 2007.

He has said repeatedly he does not intend to amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third term.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo, Writing by Bate Felix, Editing by Jeffrey Heller)

Source: Reuters US Online Report World News

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Creative Commons image of Amadou Toumani Toure via European Parliament flickr.