Mali’s military junta has dissolved all political parties in the country.
A statement read on state television on Tuesday said the country’s military leader, Assimi Goita, validated the decision.
Last month, a national conference of political actors in Mali recommended the dissolution of all political parties and the naming of Goita as president with a five-year mandate.
The recommendation led to protests in Bamako on May 3 and May 4, with several hundred critics carrying placards displaying messages calling for multi-party elections.
They also chanted slogans like ‘Down with dictatorship, long live democracy’.
Ahead of another protest planned for May 9, Mali suspended political activities across the country.
The move forced opposition groups to cancel the demonstration.
The dissolution of political parties coincides with reports of disappearances of opposition figures, as human rights groups said several politicians have disappeared in recent days.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Abba Alhassane, secretary general of the Convergence for the Development of Mali (CODEM), was arrested by “masked gunmen claiming to be gendarmes” on May 8.
The group also said on the same day, “unidentified men” seized El Bachir Thiam, leader of the Yelema party, in the town of Kati outside Bamako.
Goita first seized power in August 2020 amid escalating attacks from armed groups affiliated with ISIL (ISIS), and al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).
The junta originally committed to holding elections in February 2022.
