Bamako, May 7, 2020 – Two people suffered gunshot wounds Thursday after a protest in southern Mali against the outcome of legislative elections in March and April, local sources said. They said the incident took place in Sikasso, in the south of country, which has been the scene of several protests since the election results were posted. On April 30, amid charges of irregularities and fraud, the constitutional court awarded the ruling party 10 seats more than it had won according to the initial count. The elections were repeatedly delayed and a first round on March 29 was disrupted by jihadist attacks as well as the kidnapping of opposition leader Soumaila Cisse.
Local sources said protesters blocked access to the town and it required security forces from the capital Bamako to clear them. The security forces “used tear gas and bullets on us and we were surprised… they chased us and took down all the barricades”, a local student Souleymane Traore said. The elections were won by the ruling Rally for Mali (RPM) party of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita which took 53 of the 147 seats in the national assembly.
Mali, one of the world’s poorest countries, is struggling with an Islamist revolt that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. The election was meant to take place in late 2018 after Keita was returned to office but was postponed several times, mainly because of security concerns. The hope is that the new assembly will endorse changes to the constitution promoting decentralisation.
The government signed a deal with armed separatists in northern Mali in 2015 but the pact has largely stalled. Violence in that region began in 2012 and was then fanned by jihadists. Defying thousands of French and UN troops, the jihadists took their campaign into the centre of the country and now threaten neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
