FORMER Mali defence minister and retired colonel Bah Ndaw was named interim president, while the leader of the junta that seized power last month, Colonel Assimi Goita, was appointed vice president, Goita said in a statement. Mali's ruling junta has come under intense pressure from leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to return power to civilians following the August  18 coup that overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. It was unclear whether the arrangement would satisfy ECOWAS, which last week threatened to step up economic sanctions and impose a total embargo on landlocked Mali if its conditions…