Mali holds key polls overshadowed by jihadist violence

BAMAKO: Mali holds crucial polls on Sunday with President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita seeking re- election in a country reeling from jihadist violence and ethnic attacks.

The international community hopes the poll will strengthen a 2015 accord that Mali, a linchpin state in the troubled Sahel region, sees as its cornerstone for peace.

But violence has peppered the election, with the final days of campaigning marred by an attack on a candidate’s convoy and renewed killings of civilians.

Despi t e the p eac e dea l , which gathers the government, government- allied groups and former Tuareg rebels, a state of emergency remains in force and heads into its fourth year in November.

Jihadist violence, meanwhile, has spread from northern Mali to the centre and south and spilled into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, often exacerbating communal conflicts.

Twenty-four candidates are in the race for the presidency, and over eight million people are eligible to vote.

Keita, elected in 2013, is accused by his opponents, including several former ministers, of poor governance and security failures. Nearly 300 civilians have died in ethnic clashes this year alone.

On Wednesday, at least three Fulani civilians were kil led in central Mali in an attack by suspected traditional hunters, according to civil society and security sources.

The Fulani community regularly denounces abuses against them by Bambara and Dogon farmers in the fight against jihadists, accusing authorities of ignoring or even taking part in them. — AFP