The colonel was one of the leaders of the Military Junta that organized the 2020 Malian coup d'état and a member of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People.

[1] On December 5, 2020, he was elected president of the National Transitional Council of Mali [fr], the de facto Malian legislative body.

[2] Colonel Malick Diaw was a student at the Prytanée militaire de Kati [fr] then joined the Joint Military School in Koulikoro in 1998.

He also played a key role in negotiations with the Economic Community of West African States to lift sanctions in October.

[1][2] Diaw was elected president of the National Transitional Council of Mali [fr] with 111 votes in favor and 7 abstentions, in a body in which the military occupies 22 of the 121 seats.