A national political conference launched by Mali's military regime has recommended naming junta leader Gen. Assimi Goita, who seized power following coups in 2020 and 2021, as president.
Members of the national dialogue, held Tuesday in the capital Bamako, also recommended “the dissolution of political parties and the abolition of the status of opposition leader."
They said Goita should be installed as president for a renewable five-year term, according to Abdou Salam Diepkilé, director general of territorial administration and general reporter of the meeting.
Rumors of the dissolution of political parties had been circulating since the conference began on Monday. The talks brought together over 400 regional delegates, representatives from the Bamako district and from the Malian diaspora.
Political parties say they did not take part in the conference and have denounced their repression by military leaders.
“These consultations are not representative of the Malian people because we ourselves, who represent the political parties, did not participate in this meeting,” Abdoulaye Yaro, chief of staff of former Prime Minister Moussa Mara’s Yelema party, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
“The implementation of these recommendations is a disaster for Mali, and above all the installation as president of the republic of someone who was not elected is a violation of the Malian constitution,” he added.
Mali, a landlocked nation in the semiarid region of Sahel, has been embroiled in political instability that swept across West and Central Africa over the last decade.
The nation has seen two military coups since 2020 as an insurgency by jihadi groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group worsened. The junta has ruled the country with an iron fist and suspended all political activities in April 2024.
In June 2022, the junta promised a return to civilian rule by March 2024, but later postponed elections. No date has been set yet for the presidential election. A new prime minister has not yet been announced.
