(5 minutes read)
· Mali’s military junta, apparently triggered by mounting pressure exerted from both within and international organizations is holding discussions with people to gather their feedback on transition time
· The parleys with stakeholders are taking place at a conference centre in Bamako, the capital city.
· Around 500 people are attending the three day meet
Mali’s military junta, apparently triggered by mounting pressure exerted from both within and international organizations, are holding discussions with people to gather their feedback on transition time. The parleys with stakeholders are taking place at a conference centre in Bamako, the capital city. Around 500 people are attending the three day meet.
The young military officers overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18 and civilian representatives, many of whom had campaigned fiercely for him to resign. People were jubilant when the administration was superseded and many lent support to them. But that was short lived and people now are asking what would be the military junta do during the transition time.
The coup engineered by the young officers is incidentally the fourth in line after the country got its independence from France in 1960. Preceding the latest coup, there were months long protests, stoked by Keita’s failure to roll back a bloody jihadist insurgency and fix the country’s many economic woes.
The junta initially talked of a three-year transition, corresponding to the time left in Keita’s second five-year mandate. However, the 15-nation regional bloc ECOWAS has set a hard line, closing borders, banning trade with Mali and insisting that the handover should be done in one year with no further extension of time. The group also said Mali’s civilian transition president and premier must be appointed no later than September 15.
The opinions of the public are divided. Some argue in favor of giving the military a long handover time in order to tackle the problems that have driven the country to the brink. Others apprehend that it would worsen the instability. A committee of around 20 lawyers, researchers and academics has drawn up a draft “road map” for transition, which will be placed before the forum for amendment. The whole world is curiously looking at the developments in Mali.
