Mali halts political activity before a planned demonstration

Mali has put a stop to all political activities before a planned protest against the military junta that has been in charge since the coups in 2020 and 2021, the government said Wednesday.

The political groups in the West African country want constitutional order to be restored and a presidential election to be held. On Friday, they were planning to hold a protest.

But in a statement shown on state TV on Wednesday, the junta said that political parties and other groups would not be able to do anything until further notice in order to keep the peace.

A national meeting of politicians last week suggested that Assimi Goita, the leader of the junta, be named president for five years. The meeting also said that all political parties should be dissolved and that it should be harder to start a new party.

In response to that news, a group of political parties held a protest on May 3 and said that Malians were not represented at the meeting. The parties planned to get together again on Friday.

The junta said at first that polls would happen in February 2022, but that date has been pushed back several times.

After cutting military ties with France and other Western countries for a long time, Mali founded the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in 2024 with Burkina Faso and Niger, two poor countries in the Sahel area.