BAMAKO, Mali
Mali's military-dominated government on Monday launched a four-day national forum on returning the country to civilian rule following the country's August 2020 coup.
The authorities have showcased the
"National Conference on Reform" as a chance for the public to foster
change, but major groups have already lashed the project and said they will
boycott it.
The meeting "will make an unflinching
assessment of the state of the nation (and) draw the best lessons from
it," Mali's transitional president, Colonel Assimi Goita (pictured above), said at an
opening ceremony.
"It will also be your task to make
concrete proposals, to devise a solution for ending the crisis," he said.
One of the poorest countries in the world, Mali
has enjoyed only brief spells of political stability since it gained
independence from France in 1960.
In August 2020, young officers led by Goita
toppled the country's elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, after weeks of
street protests over perceived corruption and his handling of a bloody jihadist
insurgency.
Under pressure from France and Mali's
neighbours, Goita pledged Mali would return to civilian rule in February 2022
after holding presidential and legislative elections.
But in May this year, he staged a de facto
second coup, forcing out an interim civilian government and disrupting the
timetable.
On December 12, Goita told the West African
regional bloc Ecowas that he would provide it with a new election schedule by
January 31.
Mali has a long history of national
consultations to discuss problems and recommend solutions.
But several major parties and social
organisations have snubbed the process this time, demanding the swift holding
of elections or criticising the discussions as fruitless.
The national forum follows meetings at local
level, which were held in 51 out of 60 areas, the exceptions being in the
jihadist-hit northern regions of Kidal and Menaka. They were also held in 26
foreign locations for the Malian diaspora.
Mali spiralled into bloodshed in 2012 when
Tuareg rebels launched an insurgency in northern Mali, abetted by jihadists.
After being scattered by French military
intervention, the jihadists regrouped and took their campaign into central
Mali, an ethnic powder keg, and then into neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.
Thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. - AFP
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