Mali: the head of the High Islamic Council wants to "tell the truth" to the leaders of the transition
Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara (on the left), the current president of the High Islamic Council of Mali (HCIM), and Mahmoud Dicko (on the right), the former president of the HCIM, in Bamako on May 2, 2015 (photo illustration).
AFP - HABIBOU KOUYATE
Text by: David Baché
2 mins
In Mali, the president of the High Islamic Council (HCIM), Cheick Chérif Ousmane Madani Haidara, comes out of his reserve.
In a video recorded on December 15 and which has since been circulating on social networks, the Muslim preacher, a highly respected and widely listened to figure in Mali, deplores the poor situation in the country and invites religious figures to "
tell the truth
" to the leaders of the transition.
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He speaks of an “
unprecedented crisis
” and believes that “
things are not going well, neither in terms of security nor in terms of food
”.
Cheick Chérif Ousmane Madani Haidara is careful not to attack the leaders of the transition frontally and specifies that he does not want to incite protest but he is not content to call for prayer.
The president of the High Islamic Council of Mali asks religious leaders throughout the country "
to give advice and to tell the truth to the authorities if they are on the wrong path
", a diplomatic but unambiguous formula, all the stronger since 'it comes from a very influential character who is not used to putting himself forward in the political arena, unlike his predecessor at the head of the HCIM, Mahmoud Dicko.
Cheick Chérif Ousmane Madani Haidara even announces a meeting, without specifying a date, to bring together religious but also politicians as well as civil society in order to define proposals for ending the crisis.
Checkered relationships
This exit of the president of the High Islamic Council of Mali punctuates, so to speak, the jagged relations between the religious leader and the colonels in power.
Since the August 2020 military coup, Cheick Chérif Ousmane Madani Haidara has regularly advocated "
support
" for the transition.
Last September, a forum bringing together religious representatives from across the sub-region was even organized by the High Islamic Council (HCI) under the high patronage of the president of the transition, Colonel Assimi Goïta.
Nevertheless, the relations of the HCI with the leaders of the transition have also known several periods of tension.
Last August, for example, Haidara was personally involved in promoting the release of Ivorian soldiers arrested in Bamako and accused by the transitional government of having come to destabilize the country.
Without success.
Read also: Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali: new turning point in the crisis between Bamako and Abidjan
In addition, at the beginning of November, the High Islamic Council hoped to be allocated three seats in the National Transitional Council, the legislative body of the transition.
He didn't get them.
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Assimi Goita
