Opinion by Arezki Daoud: As there seems to be a consensus among the stakeholders of the Malian political establishment in Bamako on the formation of a government, the terrible situation in the center and the north of the country will require more than a simple consensus of politicians in the south over a cabinet. War and social-economic despaire, are only magnified by a severely degraded environment and the deep ethnic divisions pitting the Malian people against one another. Bamako will certainly need a unified and strong government, but that’s just the first step of many more to come.
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Bamako, May 2, 2019 (AFP) – Mali’s new Prime Minister Boubou Cisse signed an accord with opposition and majority parties in Bamako Thursday that paved the way for the formation of a new government. Cisse’s predecessor Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga resigned on April 18 with his entire cabinet following the massacre of some 160 members of the Fulani herding community on March 23 in the village of Ogossagou near Mali’s border with Burkina Faso. “Given that the opposition and the majority have indicated their readiness for a politically-inclusive government”, they agreed to “the formation of a new government,” according to a copy of the document, seen by AFP. It was signed by majority parties and some in opposition.
“Our country is in crisis,” Seydou Diakite, a member of the opposition PSP party, told AFP after the signing ceremony. “All its sons must get together and decide to work together on a sound basis, which is why we signed.” The document was also inked by a former rebel group, but not by the URD opposition party of Soumaila Cisse, a presidential candidate in 2018 who lost in the second round of elections. He claimed fraud.
Mali’s president named economy and finance minister Boubou Cisse as prime minister last month, charged with forming a broad government to stem bloodshed in the country. This came after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Bamako on April 5 to protest against an upsurge of inter-communal violence that has claimed some 600 lives. They accused the government of not doing enough to stop it. On Thursday, the UN’s MINUSMA mission said the Ogossagou massacre had been “planned, organised and coordinated” and could constitute a “crime against humanity.”
By AFP
