The president, in power since 2013, is accused by the opposition of trying to put in place a system of “oligarchic and plutocratic”.
The political turmoil is continuing in Mali. Thousands of people gathered in Bamako on Tuesday, calling for the resignation of president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, who is accused by the opposition of trying to put in place a system of “oligarchic and plutocratic”. Calls the dialogue of the Community of States of West Africa (Cédéao) and the rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the opponents, gathered to the sound of the vuvuzelas in the centre of Bamako.
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In a statement, the Movement on the 5 June/Rally of patriotic forces (M5-RFP), one of the leading groups of the protests, said that the people of Mali were “entitled to the same respects in favour of those of Burkina Faso, Gambia, Algeria, but also from Lebanon in the face of corrupt leaders, and without a constructive vision”. “This way of managing (…) has led Mali to the brink of bankruptcy and threatens today the stability in the Sahel, or even in the sub-region”, says the press release.
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Two months after the beginning of the protests, the word order is the same : “Our goal is the resignation of IBK (Ibrahim Boubacar Keita) and his regime”, according to Issa Kaou Djim, the coordinator of the platform (CMAS) to support the imam Mahmoud Dicko, the figurehead of the protest movement.
A serious crisis since June
The placards brandished by protesters aimed at president Keita, in power since 2013, but also his Prime minister Boubou Cisse. This is the first demonstration against the power since the truce announced on 21 July by the opposition for the muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Ten days earlier, a protest at the call of the opposition had degenerated into a weekend of unrest murderers, the most serious in Bamako since the coup of 2012.
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These acts of violence have exacerbated the tensions in this country torn by years of violence and jihadists communal, and hit by the coronavirus. The current crisis, which raises fears of the international community that Mali plunges into chaos, has seen the light of day in early June, after the invalidation of one thirty of results of the general elections of march-April by the constitutional Court, whose members have since been replaced.
An opposition motley
The protest is being led by the M5-RFP, a coalition of diverse religious leaders, political leaders and members of civil society. This alliance was replaced by a classical opposition made sluggish by the removal in march of his head, Soumaïla Cissé, still being held by suspected jihadists. The protesters called Tuesday for his release.
The violence is still ongoing in the rest of the country, including vast regions in the centre and in the north, are beyond the control of the State despite the presence of UN forces, the French and west-african. A policeman and a prison guard were killed in the night of Monday to Tuesday, during an attack conducted by an armed group against the police and the prison Kimparana (centre), according to the prosecutor of the region of Ségou, Dramane Diarra. Five detainees “escaped”, said the prosecutor.
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The malian armed forces have suffered several serious setbacks in the Ségou region since the beginning of the year, when attacks claimed or attributed to the alleged jihadists.
