Mali’s military junta has dissolved all political parties within the country.1
The decision was validated by military leader Assimi Goita, as announced in a statement broadcast on state television on Tuesday.
This move follows a recommendation from a national conference of political actors in Mali last month, which suggested dissolving all political parties and installing Goita as president with a five-year term.
The recommendation sparked protests in Bamako on May 3 and 4, where hundreds of demonstrators carried placards calling for multi-party elections and chanted slogans against dictatorship and in support of democracy.
In anticipation of a planned protest on May 9, Mali suspended all political activities nationwide, leading opposition groups to cancel their demonstration.
The dissolution of political parties coincides with reports of disappearances of opposition figures.
Human rights groups have reported several politicians going missing in recent days.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch issued a statement saying that Abba Alhassane, secretary general of the Convergence for the Development of Mali (CODEM), was arrested by “masked gunmen claiming to be gendarmes” on May 8.
The group also reported that on the same day, “unidentified men” seized El Bachir Thiam, leader of the Yelema party, in the town of Kati, near Bamako.
Goita initially seized power in August 2020 amid escalating attacks from armed groups linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).
The junta had initially pledged to hold elections in February 2022.
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