International appeal for calm in Mali after protest deaths
Mali’s worried allies and neighbors appealed for restraint and dialogue as the country’s deepening political crisis spirals into bloodshed.
After three days of unrest in the capital Bamako, representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) late Sunday voiced their concern, AFP reported.
Condemning “any form of violence as a means of crisis resolution,” they attacked the use of lethal force by the security forces and urged dialogue, but warned that the arrest of protest leaders was an obstacle to this.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is facing a mounting wave of protests sparked by the outcome of a long-delayed parliamentary poll, but whose underlying causes include discontent over his handling of Mali’s terrorism.
The 75-year-old has been in power since 2013.
Eleven people have died and 124 have been injured since Friday, according to a senior official at an emergency department of a major hospital in Bamako.
Witnesses said security forces fired live rounds during clashes with protesters, with the civil unrest the worst the country has seen in years.
Bamako remained tense on Sunday, as hundreds of people converged on the district of Badalabougou for the funerals of four people killed in the violence.
The well-off neighborhood is a stronghold of influential Mahmoud Dicko, who has emerged as a leader of the protest movement.
He appealed for calm on Sunday after deadly clashes between his supporters and security forces.
Despite scattered incidents during the night, a measure of calm had returned to Bamako on Monday morning.
The demonstrations are being driven by a disparate group of religious leaders, political and civil society members that calls itself the Movement of June 5.
They have called for “civil disobedience”, including non-payment of fines and blocking entry to state buildings.
Mali’s European allies and regional partners are anxious, given the country’s poverty, ethnic mix and strategic location at the heart of the Sahel.