Mali’s junta lifts suspension of political party activities

Reuters
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Mali’s military junta has lifted a suspension of the activities of political parties that was intended to maintain public order, the Council of Ministers said late Wednesday.

The suspension was announced in April, days before the start of a national peace dialogue in the Sahel state, which has been battling a jihadist insurgency for over a decade and has been under military rule since August 2020.

“Through this deterrent measure, the government was able to contain any danger of public unrest that loomed over this major event,” the council said in a statement.

Since the focus is now on implementing the recommendations of the peace dialogue held from April 13 to May 10, the government will allow political parties to resume their activities, it said.

Mali’s junta, which seized power in a second coup in 2021, broke its promise to hold elections in February and postponed the vote indefinitely for technical reasons.

Political parties and civil society groups reacted with anger to the junta’s decision not to hold the election and called for a return to constitutional order.

Since a coup in Mali in August 2020, there have been eight coup attempts in West and Central Africa, including in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, which are fighting the same jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.