BAMAKO, Mali
Mali’s lawmakers on Monday approved a plan allowing the military government to rule for up to five years, AFP journalists said, despite regional sanctions imposed on the country over delayed elections.
The army-dominated legislature
also decided that the country’s interim president cannot stand for a future
democratic election, as part of the same bill.
After staging a coup in the impoverished Sahel
state in August 2020, Mali’s military rulers initially promised to stage a vote
in February 2022.
But in December last year, the military government
proposed staying in power for between six months and five years, citing
security concerns.
In response, the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) last month imposed a trade embargo and closed its borders with
Mali. The bloc has called the potential length of the transition unacceptable.
On Monday, 120 members of Mali’s 121-seat interim
parliament, called the National Transitional Council, voted to allow the
military government to govern for up to five years.
It also voted to forbid the interim president from
standing for future election.
Of the lawmakers attending the vote, none voted
against the bill or abstained, AFP journalists present said.
The bill does not mention Mali’s interim President
Colonel Assimi Goita by name – leaving open the possibility that he could run
if he steps down ahead of a future election.
Nor does the bill mention on what date a future
election might be held.
Goita has pledged to restore civilian rule, but he
has refused to commit to a date.
Tensions with the military government contributed to France’s announcement last week that it was withdrawing its troops, which are deployed under the Barkhane force to fight armed groups in the Sahel, from Mali.
The landlocked nation of 21 million people has
struggled to contain a brutal armed rebellion that emerged in 2012, before
spreading three years later to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Across the region, thousands of soldiers and
civilians have been killed and two million people have been displaced by the
conflict, of which Mali remains the epicentre.
On Monday, ECOWAS stated that its mediator for
Mali, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, will visit the capital
Bamako on Thursday.
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