BAMAKO, Mali (AP) 鈥 A national political conference launched by Mali’s military regime has recommended naming junta leader Gen. Assimi Goita, who seized power following coups in 2020 and 2021, as president.
Members of the national dialogue, held Tuesday in the capital Bamako, also recommended 鈥渢he dissolution of political parties and the abolition of the status of opposition leader.”
They said Goita should be installed as president for a renewable five-year term, according to Abdou Salam Diepkil茅, director general of territorial administration and general reporter of the meeting.
Rumors of the dissolution of political parties had been circulating since the conference began on Monday. The talks brought together over 400 regional delegates, representatives from the Bamako district and from the Malian diaspora.
Political parties say they did not take part in the conference and have denounced their repression by military leaders.
鈥淭hese consultations are not representative of the Malian people because we ourselves, who represent the political parties, did not participate in this meeting,鈥 Abdoulaye Yaro, chief of staff of former Prime Minister Moussa Mara鈥檚 Yelema party, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
鈥淭he implementation of these recommendations is a disaster for Mali, and above all the installation as president of the republic of someone who was not elected is a violation of the Malian constitution,鈥 he added.
Mali, a landlocked nation in the semiarid region of Sahel, has been embroiled in political instability that swept across West and Central Africa over the last decade.
The nation has seen two military coups since 2020 as an insurgency by jihadi groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group worsened. The junta has ruled the country with an iron fist and in April 2024.
In June 2022, the junta promised a return to civilian rule by March 2024, but later postponed elections. No date has been set yet for the presidential election.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Bamako, says the recommendation from the national dialogue was expected after military rulers in and extended their mandate for five years recently.
He said military rulers in the three states feel confident that they have the support from their country’s overwhelmingly young populations, who want to break with links to France and Europe.
Like in Mali, the ruling juntas in Niger and Burkina Faso came to power in military coups, expelled French and U.S. forces, and turned to Russian military contractors for security assistance in recent years.
Last year, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced their withdrawal from the regional organization ECOWAS, which requires them to organize presidential elections and transfer power to civilians. Weakened by attacks from armed groups linked to al-Qaida, the Islamic State, or separatists, they to pool their military and diplomatic forces.
鈥淢ali鈥檚 proposal will strengthen the new Alliance of Sahel States after Niger and Burkina Faso also extended the mandate of their presidents,鈥 Laessing told The Associated Press.
鈥淩ussia also stands to gain from this move, as it helped create the alliance and is the main ally of the three Sahel states,鈥 he added.
Earlier this month, in Moscow to discuss ways to boost military ties with the Sahel countries, promising to train their troops and supply weapons.
