BAMAKO, Oct 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has few strong cards left to play as he seeks to roll back a jihadist insurgency and mounting public discontent.
Thousands of civilians and soldiers have died since armed Islamists began their revolt in northern Mali in 2012 — a campaign that has spread to the country’s volatile centre and to neighbouring Burkina Faso.
The failure of Mali’s poorly-equipped and demoralised military is now sparking an outcry, shaking confidence in Keita’s government.
Relatives of dozens of troops killed in twin attacks in central Mali took to the streets on Oct 2 to accuse the government of failure and indifference — a scenario that stoked memories of the runup to a military coup in 2012.
Many people were sceptical about what happened in the attacks on Sept 30 and Oct 1. The official death toll of 40 is widely rumoured to be an under-estimate.
Keita called for three days of national mourning after the bloodbath, appealed for unity and downplayed any speculation that he could be toppled.
“No military coup will prevail in Mali, let it be said,” said Keita, who was elected in August 2013 and re-elected last year. “(…) I don’t think this is on the agenda at all.”
A Western diplomat said that the government “seems short of solutions in the face of the attacks”, noting that swathes of the country were now out of its control.
Keita has sought to showcase the successes of his embattled government, such as leading an ongoing disarmament process and integrating former rebels within the army.
But he has admitted that limited resources mean that October’s attacks “could happen again”.
Keita is notably failing to lure opposition figures into his strategy.
Several have declined his offer of a dialogue aimed finding a way out of the crisis. And the president has angered several armed groups by opening the door to revising painfully-won peace accords reached in 2015.
Adding to the security crisis are familiar problems in Mali, an arid country that is one of the poorest in the world. Desertification and flooding during the rainy season have added to woes. — NNN-AGENCIES
