![Colonel Assimi Goita, leader of Mali's military government, attends an Economic Community of West African States meeting in Accra, Ghana, on September 15, 2020 [Francis Kokoroko/Reuters]](https://clone.businessday.ng/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2020-09-15T143058Z_1015204495_RC22ZI9LJPKX_RTRMADP_3_MALI-SECURITY_700x466.jpg)
Mali’s ruling military junta has formally dissolved all political parties in the country, state television announced on Tuesday, deepening fears of authoritarian consolidation under colonel Assimi Goita.
“All meetings of members of political parties and organisations of a political character are dissolved across the national territory,’’ It stated.
The announcement came weeks after a national conference, organised by the junta, recommended sweeping political changes, including the dissolution of parties and the installation of Goita as president with a five-year mandate. Goita, who seized power in a 2020 coup, reportedly validated the decision personally.
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The move has sparked domestic outrage. On May 3 and 4, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the capital, Bamako, chanting pro-democracy slogans and holding placards that read “Down with dictatorship, long live democracy.” The demonstrations were triggered by the junta’s increasing repression and its clear departure from previously promised democratic elections.
Ahead of another planned protest on May 9, the regime abruptly suspended all political activities nationwide, effectively silencing opposition groups and forcing the cancellation of the demonstration.
The dissolution also coincides with disturbing reports of abductions and forced disappearances of opposition figures. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Thursday that Abba alhassane, secretary general of the Convergence for the Development of Mali (CODEM), was arrested on May 8 by masked individuals identifying themselves as gendarmes. That same day, El Bachir Thiam, leader of the Yelema party, was reportedly seized by unidentified men in Kati, a town outside Bamako.
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“These arrests send a chilling message to anyone who dares to oppose the junta,” said Ida Sawadogo, a Bamako-based political analyst. “Mali is sliding further away from constitutional rule.”
Goita first came to power in August 2020 amid growing insecurity in the country’s north, where Islamist groups linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda’s Sahel-based affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) have waged a deadly insurgency. A second coup in May 2021 consolidated his leadership.
Although the junta initially pledged to hold democratic elections by February 2022, that timeline has repeatedly been postponed. The latest actions suggest no imminent return to civilian rule.
International observers have warned that Mali’s political trajectory is increasingly mirroring that of other military-led regimes in the region, where coups and constitutional backsliding have become alarmingly frequent.
The United Nations, the African Union, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have yet to issue formal statements in response to the dissolution, though previous sanctions and diplomatic pressure have failed to alter the junta’s course.
As Mali’s political space shrinks and repression intensifies, many citizens fear the country is entering a new and dangerous chapter under military rule.
