Mali confirms five-year term for junta leader Goita

Mali has adopted a bill that grants junta leader Assimi Goita a five-year renewable term starting in 2025, the West African country's council of ministers said on Wednesday.

Goita, 41, seized power after coups in 2020 and 2021, promising to hold fair elections and restore security in the insurgency-hit country.

Mali's junta originally committed to holding elections in February 2022, but that timeline has been pushed back several times.

In April, a national conference of political actors in Mali recommended naming Goita as president with a five-year mandate.

It also recommended the dissolution of all political parties and the tightening of conditions for the creation of new ones.

Government critics held several protests in Bamako in May, calling for a return to constitutional order and a presidential election.

The junta, however, said it had dissolved all the parties and banned political activities.

Mali's council of ministers said it had adopted the bill aimed at extending Goita's mandate, mirroring its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger.

Burkina Faso last year extended its junta's rule by five years and allowed military leader Ibrahim Traore to run for the presidency when an election takes place.

Niger's ruling junta, which staged a coup in 2023, set a five-year timeline in March for a transition back to civilian rule.

Reuters