Ten of thousands of protestors assembled this recent Friday in the capital Bamako, to demand the resign of the president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta from the presidency after complaints of government corruption and escalating of violence.
The president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who is re-elected in 2018 for a second five-year term, is having struggles with a years-long security crisis in northern Mali, an outbreak of the new coronavirus, a strike by teachers, and political tensions emerging from a conflicted legislative election in March.
For the second time this month, A number of protesters, including representatives of several political groups and human rights activists, crowded Bamako’s Independence Square, awaiting for a reply to a letter sent to the presidential palace calling Keita, known as IBK, to step down.
“We decide to maintain the mobilisation of all forces of the nation until the president resigns”, opposition politician Cheick Oumar Sissoko declared in a speech that called for civil disobedience and the occupation of strategic locations if there was no reply to the letter.
Protesters chanted: “No to bad governance and corruption” and “It’s too much. IBK, clear off!”
On the eve of the protest, a delegation from the regional bloc ECOWAS arrived in Bamako to encourage talks between the two sides-a sign of the concern of governments over the political standoff on their doorstep.
After the first demonstration on June 5, Keita presented offers to make concessions that includs the creation of a unity government. But protesters were not pleased.
Mali, producing gold and cotton, has faced struggles to find stability since 2012 when jihadist fighters hijacked an insurrection by Tuareg separatists, seizing the entire desert north of the country.
French troops helped in recapturing the north but violence is persisting, despite the presence of thousands of United Nations troops, with groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State steering inter-communal tensions.
Reference: https://www.barrons.com/news/thousands-protest-in-mali-anti-government-rally-01592584809?refsec=afp-news
