Mali's Traore sworn in as acting president

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's Dioncounda Traore was sworn in as interim president of his West African country on Thursday after leaders of a March 22 coup agreed to hand back power to civilians.

Traore, previously the speaker of the national parliament, was sworn in by Supreme Court President Nouhoum Tapily at a brief ceremony in the capital Bamako.

He faces the uphill task of organising new elections in the mostly desert state, where Tuareg-led rebels and Islamist allies earlier this month seized the northern half of the country in a lightning advance made in the aftermath of the coup.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; editing by Mark John and Pascal Fletcher)