+ A
A -
AFP
Bamako
Mali’s military junta on Saturday postponed the first meeting over the transfer of power after rising tensions with the main leaders who sparked the August 18 coup.
The junta had invited civic groups, political organisations and former rebels to consultations on Saturday, but said in a statement that the meeting was postponed at the last minute to a later date due to “organisational reasons”.
A protest coalition that had campaigned against former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the June 5 Movement, had not been invited to participate in the meeting.
The group has demanded that the military junta give it a role in the transition to civilian rule which the military has promised, though without a timetable. The June 5 movement accused the new military rulers of trying to hijack the coup.
“We state with bitterness that this junta which had sparked hope in the hearts of all Malians... is in the process of drifting away from the people,” said Tahirou Bah, from the Espoir Malikoura association, one of the pillars of the June 5 movement. After an escalating series of mass protests, young army officers mutinied on August 18, seizing Keita and other leaders and declaring they now governed the country.
The coup shocked Mali’s West African neighbours and ally France, heightening worries over instability in a country already struggling with an Islamist insurgency, ethnic violence and economic malaise.
Bamako
Mali’s military junta on Saturday postponed the first meeting over the transfer of power after rising tensions with the main leaders who sparked the August 18 coup.
The junta had invited civic groups, political organisations and former rebels to consultations on Saturday, but said in a statement that the meeting was postponed at the last minute to a later date due to “organisational reasons”.
A protest coalition that had campaigned against former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the June 5 Movement, had not been invited to participate in the meeting.
The group has demanded that the military junta give it a role in the transition to civilian rule which the military has promised, though without a timetable. The June 5 movement accused the new military rulers of trying to hijack the coup.
“We state with bitterness that this junta which had sparked hope in the hearts of all Malians... is in the process of drifting away from the people,” said Tahirou Bah, from the Espoir Malikoura association, one of the pillars of the June 5 movement. After an escalating series of mass protests, young army officers mutinied on August 18, seizing Keita and other leaders and declaring they now governed the country.
The coup shocked Mali’s West African neighbours and ally France, heightening worries over instability in a country already struggling with an Islamist insurgency, ethnic violence and economic malaise.
