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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Momodou |
Posted - 19 Aug 2020 : 21:32:04
Soldiers again!!
Factbox: Why Mali is in turmoil again
Reuters Staff
(Reuters) - Military officers took charge in Mali on Wednesday after detaining President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita at gunpoint a day earlier and forcing him to resign and dissolve parliament.
The coup followed mass protests that began in June calling on Keita to resign over what opponents said were his failures to restore security and address corruption. Following are details on the origins of the crisis and the risks it poses to the region.
WHAT CAUSED THE PROTESTS?
1. Disputed elections
Political tension has been simmering since Keita won reelection in August 2018 in a poll that opposition parties said was marred by irregularities.
Keita’s government pushed ahead with a legislative election in March despite the coronavirus outbreak, increasing jihadi attacks and the kidnapping by unidentified gunmen of Mali’s main opposition leader, Soumaila Cisse. He has not been heard of since.
Protesters were angry about a decision by the constitutional court to overturn 31 of the results, handing Keita’s party 10 more parliamentary seats and making it the largest bloc.
2. Islamist violence
Mali has struggled to regain stability since 2012, when ethnic Tuareg rebels and loosely aligned jihadists seized the northern two-thirds of the country, leading former colonial power France to intervene to temporarily beat them back.
Attacks have increased in recent months, as militants seek to extend their reach, stocking ethnic tensions around central Mali.
3. Corruption
Keita’s opponents accused his government of cronyism, pointing to the influence of his son Karim Keita, who stepped down from the powerful position of chairman of parliament’s defense and security committee in July. The government denied the accusations. |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Momodou |
Posted - 07 Sep 2020 : 21:03:44
West Africa leaders say Mali junta must name a president by Sept. 15
Boureima Balima
NIAMEY (Reuters) - West Africa’s regional leaders have given the military junta in Mali until Sept. 15 to name a transitional president and a prime minister, according to a statement read at the end of a summit on Monday.
The heads of state of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said the president and prime minister, who will lead the transitional government, should be civilians.
The bloc, seeking to keep pressure on the junta, maintained sanctions it had placed on Mali, but welcomed steps taken by the junta in the past week to start talks with Mali’s political parties and civil society groups over the transition.
The ECOWAS union has closed its borders with landlocked Mali and halted financial flows amid concerns from some West African leaders the military coup could undermine their power and democratic gains in the region.
A group of army colonels has ruled Mali since ousting President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Aug. 18. No consensus has yet been reached on the make-up and duration of a transitional government ahead of promised elections.
ECOWAS is calling for a swift return to civilian rule and a vote within a year, a timeline the junta, the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), has not committed to.
ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, said both the president and prime minister must be appointed by Sept. 15 at the latest.
Talks in the capital Bamako about the transition period got off to a bumpy start on Saturday, when supporters of the influential M5-RFP political coalition accused the junta of sidelining them.
Source: Reuters
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| Momodou |
Posted - 26 Aug 2020 : 21:58:51
Mali junta seeks three-year post-coup transition, West Africans say one is enough
AUGUST 26, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mali-security-mediators/mali-junta-seeks-three-year-post-coup-transition-west-africans-say-one-is-enough-idUSKBN25M2A5?il=0
ABUJA (Reuters) - The leaders of the military coup in Mali have told a delegation of West African mediators that they want to stay in power for a three-year transition period, Nigeria said on Wednesday.
Negotiators from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were sent to Mali at the weekend to discuss a return to civilian rule with the military officers who ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the Aug. 18 coup.
But three days of meetings ended without a decision on the structure of a transitional government.
The junta leaders said after taking power that they acted because the country was sinking into chaos and insecurity which they said was largely the fault of poor government. They also promised to oversee a transition to elections within a “reasonable” amount of time.
The Nigerian presidency said the mutineers were now seeking to oversee a three-year transition before elections. Earlier, ECOWAS envoy Goodluck Jonathan had given an update on talks to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We also told them that what would be acceptable to ECOWAS was an Interim Government, headed by a civilian or retired military officer, to last for six or nine months, and maximum of 12 calendar months,” the presidency quoted Jonathan as saying in a statement.
The coup has raised the prospect of further political turmoil in Mali which, like other countries in the region, has faced an expanding threat from Islamist militants and civil unrest.
Coup leaders have held Keita since his overthrow, declining an ECOWAS request for him to be moved to his own residence.
“They said he could travel abroad, and not return to answer questions they may have for him,” Jonathan was quoted as saying. |
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