For the second time in less than a year, the Malian military is back.
Nine months after ousting President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita following a series of anti-government protests, the military on Monday arrested President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane just hours after the announcement by a new prime minister that separated two military leaders.
Colonel Assimi Goita, who led the August 2020 uprising and was Ndaw’s second-in-command in the reform process he formed at the end of September with the country’s reform movement, said he had not been consulted about the changes, which were announced during civil strife. including the strike called by the largest trade union in Mali.
After being taken to the military base, Ndaw, a general, and Ouane disembarked Wednesday. Later in the day, the United Nations Security Council condemned as “unlawful” “a change of leadership by coercive change, including forced resignation”.
But by Friday, Goita was seated has been elected president for a long time by a court of law in Mali.
This came as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summoned military leaders to hold talks with the chairperson of the organization, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, according to Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama. The talks are scheduled for Sunday.
France, which has troops in Mali to fight the militants, also denounced the military as “illegal”, while President Emmanuel Macron warned of “sanctions imposed” against those who committed such acts as “insurgency”.
Following the seizure of the government last year, ECOWAS suspended Mali from its institutions and announced several sanctions, including closing down borders and suspending the financial system.
But some researchers are still skeptical about whether these methods will work and how effective the government will be.
“These rules have not worked well,” Emmanuel Kwesi Anning, director of research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center, told Al Jazeera.
“People were capable of doing business; borderline and porous. But the fact that ECOWAS wanted to impose sanctions on non-political, economic and social issues in Mali meant that the regime changed and allowed people to criticize ECOWAS, “he said.
“In the meantime, any news or idea of re-establishing the risks, I think, will come back. We need more dialogue to find out what the people of Mali want,” Anning added.
On Wednesday, Washington said it was “shutting down security” for security forces in Mali who are struggling to have troops in the north and central parts of the country.
“The United States is also considering possible action against political and military leaders who have obstructed the transition to democracy,” said Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department.
Mali has been embroiled in a crisis since the 2012 uprising that led to the overthrow of the president.
The coup helps Tuareg separatists, allied with fighters from al-Qaeda, launch an offensive in northern Mali. Troops quickly chased Tuareg rebels and seized northern cities until they were chased away in early 2013 by a French-led army.
But militants remain active and al-Qaeda-ISIL allies have moved from the north of the region to central Mali since 2015, beating up insurgents and inciting ethnic hatred and violence in the region.
There is concern that recent developments in Bamako could make weakened security more dangerous.
“That [the coup] it will not only lead to a resurgence of violence and armed forces in Mali but also a signal of the end of the military’s return to power, ”Anning said.
Before a new election can take place, Mali is due to hold a general election in February next year. On Friday, Goita promised that elections would take place as planned.
He also said he had elected a new Prime Minister in a few days, a number that will be taken by opponents of the 5 June Movement-Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5-RFP) – a powerful party that launched street protests last year against Keita.
The M5-RFP group was abandoned by the protesters last year when they set up revolutionary organizations.
Jean-Herve Jezequel of Crisis Group said in a printing This week the days to come will be “urgent”, while political elections are also possible.
“But regardless of the outcome, the new crisis demonstrates the lack of a strong coalition to support what has happened, especially its goal of political change in Mali,” he added. “This is probably a matter of great concern: in the face of all these challenges, Mali still does not know which political parties can bring about the change the country needs.”
For Moussa Kondo, a human rights activist and the head of the Accountability Lab in Mali, the elections are “the turning point in Mali.”
“We Malians have been facing tensions between the president and the military,” he told Al Jazeera. “We must find a peaceful, transparent solution that is acceptable to all Malians.”
