Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop on Monday cast new doubts on the holding of elections on the scheduled date of February 2022, rejecting the “diktats” of his country's partners.
Abdoulaye Diop suggested that the presidential and legislative elections of February 27 could not be held
"if the security situation is not taken care of"
, during a press point with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita in Rabat.
Read also Mali: possible postponement of the presidential and legislative elections, according to the Prime Minister
"We have an additional challenge that came with the disengagement of the French partner which risks creating a security vacuum that the Malian state must fill,"
added Abdoulaye Diop. Paris has undertaken to reorganize its military system in the Sahel, notably by leaving the northernmost bases of Mali (Kidal, Timbuktu and Tessalit) and by planning to reduce its troops in the region by 2023 to 2,500-3,000 men, against more than 5,000 today.
“We have committed to a timetable to hold the elections in February. We are in this momentum but (...) this dogmatic approach of saying 'it's February 27 or nothing', I believe that our partners will have to take a step back to look at the whole situation ”
, underlined the head of the Malian diplomacy.
"Let us try to help the Malians to find a Malian solution to their problems"
, he again pleaded,
"because the Malians have the feeling that each time it is partners outside Mali who give us prescriptions, and often that doesn't work ”.
"The state of mind must change"
, hammered Abdoulaye Diop, before concluding:
"Let us leave the prescription, diktats, invectives, ultimatums, to enter into the framework of a dialogue and a listening sincere with the Malians ”.
Mali, plunged into a deep security and political crisis since the outbreak of independence and jihadist insurgencies in the north of the country in 2012, was the scene of two military coups in August 2020 and May 2021. The military in power pledged to return power to civilians and hold national elections in February 2022 after an
18-month
"transition"
, but fulfillment of this pledge is increasingly questionable.