The transition period before elections and a return of civilians to the head of Mali could last up to five years, endorsed Monday the assembly serving as a legislative body since the military coup.
SEE ALSO -
End of Barkhane: "It's the beginning of the end of the war in Mali", according to a member of the CNT
Read also"
End of French military engagement in Mali: pride and bitterness
"
This announcement comes as the question of the date of the elections gives rise to a showdown between Bamako, on the one hand, and the organization of West African states Cédéao as well as part of the international community, including France. , the other.
Mali's military-controlled National Transitional Council (CNT) also approved a provision stipulating that the president of the transitional period supposed to precede a return of civilians to power could not be a candidate in a future presidential election, the authorities noted. AFP correspondents.
It would not prevent the leader of the junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, who currently holds the post of president, from running for the future presidency if he were to leave his post before an election.
The charter adopted by the CNT serves as a fundamental act of the period preceding a return of civilians to the leadership of this country plunged into a serious security and political crisis since the outbreak of separatist and jihadist insurgencies in 2012. The revision approved on Monday provides that the duration of the transition will be in line with the recommendations made following national consultations that took place in December 2021. These "
assizes
" recommended a transition of six months to five years.
It maintains the vagueness on the thorny question of the date of the elections.
The original charter, promulgated by the military on October 1, 2020, a little over a month after their first putsch, set the duration of the transition at 18 months.
The junta has since revoked its initial commitment to hold elections on February 27.
She has expressed her intention to stay in place for another four or five years.
A “ totally unacceptable
” delay
for ECOWAS, which imposed heavy economic and diplomatic sanctions on Mali on January 9, with a commercial and financial embargo and the closing of borders.
Read alsoMali, in the streets of Bamako: “The French have gone from the status of liberators to that of occupiers”
The junta and Mali's partners, first and foremost France, have engaged in an escalation of tensions which culminated last week with the announcement by the French and the Europeans of the withdrawal of their soldiers taking part in the fight against the jihadism.
However, the Malian government and ECOWAS say they remain open to dialogue.
ECOWAS announced in a statement on Monday that the mediator for Mali, Goodluck Jonathan, would visit the country on Thursday.
SEE ALSO -
"If the French forces had not acted, there would have been a Daesh in Mali", says Hubert Védrine