Denouncing a “masquerade”, a collective of parties and organizations from Malian civil society rejected the prospect of several years of military rule recommended following consultations organized by the junta. The stakeholders in this collective “vigorously denounce the charade of inter-Malian dialogue initiated by the authorities in place and reject its recommendations”, they say in a press release consulted Monday May 13 on social networks and authenticated by AFP. The military “wants to stay in power forever by taking Mali and the Malians hostage,” the press release added.
Consultations organized by the junta and supposed to produce solutions to end the crisis “recommended” on Friday several additional years of military rule and a candidacy by the head of this junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, in a future presidential election. There is little doubt about the application of these conclusions, with Colonel Goïta once again welcoming these “recommendations” on Monday.
“We are going to take steps to implement the approximately 300 recommendations from Malians that you have just given me,” he said in Bambara, without going into detail, in a video posted on the presidency’s Facebook page after the submission of recommendations. These recommendations “will be the subject of great follow-up”, he declared in French on state television: “The happy outcome of this process gives us real hopes for the lasting resolution of the conflict that we are aiming for for over a decade. »
Boycott
Since 2012, Mali has been plunged into a deep security and political crisis fueled by jihadism, violence by armed groups and independence demands in the North. The country experienced a double military coup in 2020 and 2021 and the colonels who lead it failed to fulfill the commitment made to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to organize elections and give way to elected civilians by March 29, 2024.
Since 2020, they have increased their acts of rupture and turned militarily and politically towards Russia. They denounced the Algiers peace agreement signed in 2015 with separatist groups in the North and considered by international partners and the UN as a primary stabilization factor. They instead initiated an “inter-Malian dialogue for peace” which ended on Friday. Much of what remains of the opposition has boycotted this “dialogue.” Since 2020, the authorities have dissolved a number of critical organizations. They suspended party activities in April.
Some of these organizations and parties signed the press release published on social networks. Friday’s recommendations “in no way reflect the will of the people”, they say, noting the sidelining of all opposition, and have “not produced any Malian peace initiative” despite the announced objective. According to them, the authorities ignore the daily difficulties of Malians, faced with insecurity, the high cost of living, unemployment and power cuts, and “have demonstrated their notorious incapacity to provide the slightest beginning of a solution”.