BAMAKO, Mali
Mali’s
opposition alliance has rejected a plan proposed by international mediators to
defuse tensions, sticking to its demand that President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita
must resign.
The rejection was the latest
setback in efforts to end Mali’s political standoff that has spiralled into
violent clashes which have left 11 people dead.
In a statement late Friday
after several meetings with a delegation from the 15-nation ECOWAS bloc, the
June 5 Movement said the president’s departure had been a “red line” for the
mediators.
It said this ignored the
risk Keita “poses to the very existence of Mali as a nation, republic and
democracy”.
The ECOWAS mediation team
led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has been in Mali since
Wednesday, meeting the parties in a bid to defuse the crisis.
Jonathan told reporters
Saturday that negotiations had not failed and that meetings would continue.
He said that the ECOWAS
team would issue a statement on Saturday or Sunday.
After several anti-Keita
protests last month, the latest rally on July 10 turned violent and deepened
the political impasse.
Three days of clashes
between protesters and security forces left 11 dead and 158 injured, according
to an official tally — in the bloodiest bout of political unrest in years.
On the agenda for
mediation were discussions about the March-April parliamentary election, the
disputed outcome of which many analysts say is the root of the crisis.
Mali’s constitutional
court in April tossed out about 30 results from the elections in a decision
that handed seats to members of Keita’s party, triggering protests.
But the mediators’
compromise offer is substantially similar to an earlier offer made by Keita,
which the opposition has already rejected.
The mediating team
proposed that Keita remain president, for example, but that new judges be
appointed to the constitutional court so that it could revisit its decision on
the parliamentary election.
A “new government of
national unity” should also be formed, mediators said.
One of the June 5 Movement’s
leaders, Choguel Maiga, said late Friday that the mediators’ proposals had
“reduced our entire struggle to electoral issues”.
In the statement issued
Friday, the opposition movement said it was insisting the president quit based
on his “proven inability to turn Mali around” and the loss of territory, among
other issues.
Swathes of Mali lie
outside of government control because of a jihadist insurgency that began in
the north in 2012, before spreading to the centre, as well as into Burkina Faso
and Niger.
The conflict has claimed
thousands of lives and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.
With the latest political crisis, Mali’s allies and neighbours are keen to avoid the fragile Sahel nation of some 20 million people sliding into chaos.
No comments:
Post a Comment