BAMAKO, Mali — Mali's president has named a longtime public servant as the country's new prime minister, hours after the position's former occupant was arrested and forced to resign by the soldiers behind a spring coup.

The presidential decree read on state television said Django Sissoko, the republic's ombudsman and a former administrator of the presidential palace, is the new premier.

Ex-Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra was announced his resignation in a statement broadcast on national television at 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, the leader of Mali's March 21 coup, Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo said he had no regrets about Diarra's resignation. He denied, however, that the premier was forced to quit, saying soldiers simply "facilitated" his departure.