Bill granting head of Mali’s junta, Gen. Assimi Goita, five more years in power signed into law

The head of Mali’s junta General Assimi Goita has granted himself a five-year presidential mandate, renewable “as many times as necessary” and without election, in a bill signed into law on Thursday.  

The bill implemented recommendations of the national dialogue consultations organised by the military regime in April and boycotted by political parties. It was passed by the military-appointed legislative body last week.  

The law, which Goita approved on Tuesday, allows him to lead the West African nation until at least 2030, despite the military government’s initial pledge to return to civilian rule in March 2024.  

In May, he signed a decree dissolving all political parties. It coincided with a surge in kidnappings of pro-democracy activists in the capital, Bamako, and just days after a demonstration by several hundred activists. 

Restrictions on freedom

The new law is the latest in a series of restrictions on freedoms by Mali’s military leadership to consolidate its power in the jihadist-hit Sahelian nation. 

Goita has led the country since orchestrating two coups in 2020 and 2021 as an insurgency by jihadi groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group worsened. 

Mali, a landlocked nation in the semiarid region of Sahel, has been embroiled in political instability that swept across West and Central Africa over the last decade.