Legacy of Mali’s 2012 coup is at the heart of latest violent protests

Four people were killed in the violence that raged in Mali’s capital, Bamako, on Saturday and through the night, as demonstrators pushed for the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the worst such civil unrest in years.

The embattled Mr Keita on Saturday announced the dissolution of the West African country’s constitutional court in a bid to calm the unrest, but opposition figures rejected the idea.

The roots of Mali’s current crisis extend back to its past as a French colony, but more recently to the upheaval of a military coup in 2012 that displaced the country’s democratically elected president, Amadou Toumani Toure.

Following international pressure, the coup leader later handed over power to a civilian transitional government that went on to organise elections.

Mali’s coup left a power vacuum that the current president, Mr Keita, struggled to fill.

He came to power after a French-led military operation to oust extremists in northern Mali’s towns in 2013, but the result has been sustained activity by extremist groups in the north of the country and a stuttering economy.

The West African country has been gripped by its worst civil unrest in years after contested election results brought thousands of protesters on to the streets.

Protesters took to the streets on June 5, but trouble was brewing in the months before as Mali attempted to hold an election amid kidnappings, extremist violence and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The first and second rounds of the parliamentary elections in March and April recorded low turnouts as voters were scared away by violence.

Opposition leader Soumaila Cisse was abducted – allegedly by extremists – only three days before the first round. He has yet to be released.

On April 30, Mali’s constitutional court overturned the election results from 30 seats, 10 of which benefited candidates from the president’s party, triggering protests in several cities.

The protests have drawn broad support and gained momentum in the five weeks they have been running. The movement adopted the name, Movement of June 5 – Rally of Patriotic Forces, after the first day of protest, which drew tens of thousands to the streets of Bamako.

The movement is critical of continued failures to stem the country’s extremist insurgency. Protesters are also angry about intercommunity bloodshed, as well as the government’s record on the economy and fighting corruption, along with the organisation of the legislative elections.

Some on the streets have called for Mr Keita to resign.

Violence broke out on June 10 in Bamako, leaving four dead and more than 70 people injured. Demonstrators blocked main roads, attacked the parliament building and stormed the premises of a state broadcaster. Protest leaders were arrested.

After initially fiddling with small concessions, Mr Keita suggested a review of the court’s decision, but his offer was rejected, with the June 5 movement’s leaders calling for the parliament to be dissolved and urging civil disobedience.

Yesterday, Mr Keita announced the constitutional court would be dissolved, adding he had repealed the licences of all remaining members of the court so that new judges could be appointed from next week.

“The reformed court can quickly help us find solutions to the disputes arising from the legislative elections,” he said in an evening television address.

Mr Keita’s words failed to persuade those protesting on the streets of the capital.

“We are not going to accept this nonsense,” a spokesman for the protest movement, Nouhoum Togo, said. “We demand his resignation, plain and simple.”