Mali’s military government has taken a decisive step by dissolving all political parties in the country, a move confirmed in a statement broadcast on state television on Tuesday. The decree was validated by the country’s military leader, Assimi Goita, marking a significant escalation in the junta’s consolidation of power.
Last month, a national conference involving political actors recommended the dissolution of all political parties and proposed naming Goita as president with a five-year mandate. This recommendation sparked widespread protests in the capital, Bamako, on May 3 and 4, where hundreds of demonstrators carried placards demanding multi-party elections and chanted slogans such as “Down with dictatorship, long live democracy.”
In anticipation of further protests planned for May 9, the military government suspended all political activities nationwide, forcing opposition groups to cancel their demonstrations. This clampdown on political freedoms coincides with alarming reports from human rights organizations about the disappearance of opposition figures.
Human Rights Watch reported that on May 8, Abba Alhassane, secretary general of the Convergence for the Development of Mali (CODEM), was abducted by “masked gunmen claiming to be gendarmes.” On the same day, El Bachir Thiam, leader of the Yelema party, was seized by unidentified men in Kati, a town near Bamako.
Goita first came to power in August 2020 following a coup amid escalating attacks by armed groups linked to ISIL and al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). Although the junta initially promised elections by February 2022, these have yet to materialize, raising concerns over Mali’s democratic future.
