Mali protest group insists president IBK must resign
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The June 5 Movement - Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5-RFP) - on Sunday again called out Malians, at home and abroad, for a massive demonstration on Friday to pursue its "just struggle for the survival of Mali and the happiness of Malians," the Movement said in a press statement, obtained by PANA.
In the statement, the M5-RFP said it is determined to obtain legal and legitimate means to force president Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita to resign, revealing that the president's only saving grace will be to implement the agreement signed on 30 June.
The Movement explains that president Kéita has deliberately ignored all the demands and measures contained in the 30 June deal, by referring the M5-RFP to his ruling party which "has no power and for which he himself has neither respect nor consideration".
When a delegation of the M5-RPF met with the president on Sunday, reports said the Malian president welcomed the presence of almost all the members of the M5 strategic team, and said that "your presence here is a victory for Mali, an act of faith that will enhance the uniqueness of our people".
He then said he was aware of the grievances of the M5-RFP through the memorandum that was handed to him.
"I respect the positions expressed and I invite you to continue and deepen exchanges with the presidential majority," he said.
Speaking on behalf of the M5, Choguel Kokalla Maiga thanked the Malian head of state for the initiative of the meeting. "We could not but come," he said, before going on to say that the M5 will consult its bases and send its response to the head of state.
In the Memorandum of 30 June, the M5-RFP made a series of proposals for a way out of the crisis for the attention of President Keita.
Among these proposals were the dissolution of the National Assembly, whose members they allege were illegally elected because the poll results were tampered with by the Constitutional Court in favour of the president's party, the replacement of the 9 members of the Constitutional Court, the establishment of a transitional government with a Prime Minister to be appointed by the Movement and the establishment of a body to replace the National Assembly.
On 5 and 19 June, the Movement organized demonstrations at Independence Square in the center of Bamako by several tens of thousands of people to demand the resignation of President Kéita and his regime over allegations of "bad governance" and "poor management" of the multiple crises that Mali is going through.
The Movement said following the intervention of the international community and the country's opinion leaders, "we abandoned our main objective - the president's resignation."
"But since the president has has not considered our proposals for ending the crisis and is sending us back to a political party, we are therefore maintaining the 10 July demonstration date to demand the resignation of president Kéita and his regime," a leader of the movement claimed.
-0- PANA GT/JSG/SOC/MTA/VAO 6July2020
