Mali’s interim legislature on Saturday elected Colonel Malick Diaw, a member of the military junta that toppled president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August, as its president.

The 121-seat body known as the National Transition Council was meeting for its inaugural session in the capital Bamako, and is a key part of the post-coup interim government apparatus in Mali.

Young army officers in the conflict-ridden Sahel state toppled president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18 after weeks of anti-government protests.

Under the threat of international sanctions, the officers between September and October handed power to an interim government, which is meant to rule for 18 months before staging elections.

Figures with army links dominate this interim government, however, and anger over their prominent role is growing.

Coup leader Colonel Assimi Goita was elected interim vice president, for example, and retired army colonel Bah Ndaw was also elected interim president.

Members of the defence and security forces have 22 seats in the transition council, according to a government decree, while political parties, civil society groups and trade unions also have seats.

On Saturday, the council elected Colonel Malick Diaw as its president unopposed, according to AFP journalists, with 111 votes in his favour and seven abstentions. Three council members did not vote.

Diaw was second in command of the military junta that took power after Keita’s ouster. The junta has never formally been dissolved.

Last month, Goita was also given veto power over the appointments to the new legislature, in a move seen by critics of the interim regime as strengthening army control. 

The opposition June 5 Movement, which led protests against Keita this year, said in a statement on Friday that it was boycotting the new legislature and that it would not serve as a “stooge for a disguised military regime”.

Source: AFP

Incumbent Burkina Faso President Roch Kaboré was leading with just 12 of around 360 voting districts declared on Monday, the electoral commission said, while opposition parties cast doubt on the credibility of the results thus far.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens were unable to cast their ballots during the presidential vote on Sunday because their polling stations remained closed for fear of Islamist violence.

Groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group operate across swathes of Burkina Faso, part of a widening jihadist threat in West Africa’s Sahel, a semi-arid region south of the Sahara Desert.

An association of the opposition parties cast doubt on the credibility of the results on Monday, repeating allegations of irregularities and fraud during a joint news conference. Ahead of the vote, international observers said they had seen no evidence of fraud.

Analysts expect a tight race that could go to a second round if no candidate wins more than 50 percent.

Kaboré, who was first elected in 2015, led in most of the dozen voting districts whose results were announced on Monday afternoon, totalling over 53,000 votes, more than double as many as his nearest rival, Zéphirin Diabré.

The electoral commission said further results would be announced on Tuesday.

Diabré is a former finance minister and 2015 runner-up. Kaboré’s other main competitor in the field of 13 candidates is Eddie Komboigo, the head of the party of Blaise Compaoré, who was president for 27 years until a 2014 revolution.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

More clashes broke out over Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara’s reelection on Tuesday as West African nations and France called for dialogue to end tensions over his contested third term.

Ouattara secured the October 31 election by more than 94 percent, but the West African nation is mired in a dispute after opposition leaders rejected the vote, accusing him of breaching the two-term limit for the presidency.

Tensions have revived trauma over disputed elections in 2010 that unleashed a brief civil war in the West African country, claiming around 3,000 lives.

At least three people were killed in the central-eastern town of M’Batto between Monday and Tuesday when violence erupted between rival ethnic communities over Ouattara’s third term, police and local residents said.

“The situation is calm now and reinforcements are patrolling the area,” a gendarmerie spokesman said, confirming the total of three killed and 26 wounded.

Another nine people died in violence in two other towns on Monday as the country’s top court validated Ouattara’s election victory.

More than 8,000 Ivorians have fled to neighbouring countries, fearing election-linked violence, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.

West African bloc ECOWAS offered warm congratulations” to Ouattara, but the 15-member group urged him to bring Ivorians together after the unrest that has killed around 50 people since August.

Ouattara, a former IMF economist first elected in 2010, has urged chief rival Henri Konan Bedie to drop the protests and hold talks to defuse the crisis.

“I will be the president for all Ivorians,” he said in a national broadcast on Monday evening.

There has been no official response from the main opposition party PDCI or its chief Bedie, an 86-year-old former president.

Bedie’s Abidjan home is still blockaded by security forces. Two other opposition chiefs have been arrested for suspected insurrection after rejecting the ballot and announcing a rival government.

But one opposition representative maintained a hard line.

“We do not recognise the election. We all know he (Ouattara) violated the constitution,” said N’Goran Djiedri, leader of one faction of the PDCI.

“Yes to dialogue, but the rule of law must be respected.”

Face-to-face talks

ECOWAS urged “all Ivorians to put peace and social cohesion above all and seek to resolve their differences through dialogue and legal channels”.

The UN, EU and African Union have all urged talks to stop tensions worsening in Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, francophone West Africa’s largest economy and a business hub.

Western diplomats and government sources say talks are ongoing with both sides, though no solid progress has been made so far.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Ivory Coast’s former colonial ruler considered Ouattara’s offer of dialogue went “in the right direction”, but hoped that “acts will contribute to appeasement”.

“Bedie and Ouattara could see each other and be seen with each other, to take the tensions down a level,” one Western diplomat said.

“The real discussion needs to happen between these two.”

The bitter rivalry has marked Ivorian politics for decades along with ethnic and regional loyalties.

In power since 2010, Ouattara had said that at the end of his second term he would make way for the next generation, raising hopes for an end to the long-running feuds.

But the sudden death of his chosen successor in July prompted a change of mind.

His bid angered opposition chiefs, stoking tensions over a possible post-election crisis similar to one in 2010-11 when then-president Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by Ouattara.

French troops eventually intervened and Ouattara loyalists were able to oust Gbagbo.

The country was already divided in two after a civil war—the north held by rebels and the south by Gbagbo’s forces.

Source: AFP

Two Ivory Coast government supporters were killed and a minister’s convoy hit by gunfire, officials said on Wednesday, as tensions build over President Alassane Ouattara’s contested reelection.

Ivory Coast is caught in a standoff after Ouattara was declared victor on Tuesday, but rivals boycotted the vote and declared they would form a rival “transitional” government.

Security forces have blockaded access to homes of Ouattara’s chief rivals, Henri Konan Bedie and Pascal Affi N’Guessan, after officials accused the opposition of plotting an “act of sedition” against the government.

The United States on Wednesday joined the UN in calling for dialogue in the West African state where more than 40 people have been killed in clashes over Ouattara’s third term since he announced he would run again in August.

Two government supporters were killed in a clash near equipment minister Amede Koffi Kouakou’s home in the central town of Toumodi, a ruling party official said.

“Two young people from the minister’s entourage who wanted to help the minister’s brother were shot dead” Tuesday night, Ouattara’s RHDP party spokesman Mamadou Toure said.

Toumodi was one of the areas hit by violence over the weekend election — four people were killed at the weekend when houses were set ablaze during clashes there.

Toure also said the convoy of communication minister and government spokesman Sidi Tiemoko Toure had come under fire in the centre of the country, but there were no casualties.

Blocked roads

The crisis has stoked fears Ivory Coast could slide into the kind of violence that killed 3,000 people a decade ago when then president Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by Ouattara.

Police fired tear gas on Tuesday to clear small groups of protesters near Bedie’s residence in Abidjan’s Cocody district, where security forces have blocked access roads around his home.

Security forces were also surrounding the homes of N’Guessan and former minister Abdallah Mabri Toikeusse, an AFP reporter said.

“We cannot enter or leave my home,” said Assoa Adou, secretary general of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), close to former Gbagbo, from his home.

“They don’t care if we have food or medicine,” he told AFP.

Djedri N’Goran, a senior member of Bedie’s party, said five members of Bedie’s family have been arrested.

Opponents say Ouattara’s third term breaches the country’s two-term presidential limit, but the Ivorian leader contends that a 2016 reform allowed him to run again by resetting term limits back to zero.

International concern

The crisis is another test for a region where Guinea is caught up in its own post-election dispute, Nigeria is emerging from widespread unrest and Mali has a transition government following a coup.

The United Nations, African Union and African bloc ECOWAS on Tuesday called on Ivory Coast’s opposition to “respect constitutional order” and seek dialogue, while urging all sides to show “restraint to preserve human lives”.

On Tuesday, the US called on Ivorian leaders to respect the democratic process and rule of law.

“Grievances related to the presidential election must be resolved in a peaceful and transparent manner within the framework of the law,” a statement from the US embassy said.

Western and African governments are pressing the opposition to abandon its idea of a transitional government and for Ouattara to “appease rather than oppress”, a diplomatic source said.

In power for 10 years, Ouattara said earlier this year that after his second term he planned to make way for a new generation.

But the sudden death of his chosen successor in July prompted him to seek a third term.

The anger sparked by his decision has revived memories of past Ivorian feuds with roots even before a 2002 civil war split the country in two, the north held by rebels and the south by forces of Gbagbo.

Ouattara won a long-postponed election in 2010 but Gbagbo refused to accept defeat. French forces eventually intervened to help Ouattara loyalists oust the former president.

(AFP)

Tanzanians will vote Wednesday amid rising concern for democracy under President John Magufuli, who is seeking a second term, and with tensions high in volatile Zanzibar, where violence erupted ahead of the vote.

Long deemed a haven of stability in East Africa, observers say Tanzania has seen a worrying crackdown on the opposition and freedom of speech under the 60-year-old Magufuli and his Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which has been in power since 1961.

Magufuli is counting on his ambitious programme of infrastructure development and fiery anti-corruption stance to secure him a second mandate and called for a peaceful vote.

“For those who qualify, vote and go home. Let the electoral body do its work. Peace is very important and I pray it dominates the polls,” he said Tuesday.

Magufuli’s main challenger among 15 presidential candidates is Tundu Lissu, 52, of the Chadema opposition party.

He returned to the country in July after three years abroad recovering from 16 bullet wounds sustained in what he believes was a politically-motivated assassination attempt.

Lissu’s return has reinvigorated an opposition demoralised by a ban on political rallies outside of election time, multiple arrests, attacks, and what rights groups have slammed as the squeezing of democracy.

“I have witnessed through the campaign that Tanzanians are ready for changes and I believe they will turn out to vote tomorrow,” he said at his final rally.

 Early vote –

In a boost for the opposition’s chances, Zitto Kabwe, the head of the popular ACT-Wazalendo party, has endorsed Lissu for the presidency on the mainland.

In return, Chadema is backing veteran opposition candidate Seif Sharif Hamad in his sixth bid for the presidency in Zanzibar, this time against CCM candidate Hussein Ali Hassan Mwinyi.

Zanzibar has a history of tense elections plagued with violence and irregularities and the opposition has again accused the ruling party of seeking to steal the vote.

The archipelago held an early vote for security forces Tuesday which prompted violence that the opposition says left 10 dead and scores injured.

“How can you have an election were you have teargas everywhere and live ammunition? It is in no case a fair election, it is just a farce,” said Hamad.

Trucks loaded with soldiers, police and a militia linked to the ruling party known as “zombies” — clad in black with their faces covered by bandanas — whizzed throughout the city and on Tuesday were seen rounding up and beating several civilians.

“I’m alarmed by reports from Zanzibar and elsewhere of violence, deaths, and detentions,” United States ambassador Donald Wright wrote on Twitter.

Britain’s envoy, David Concar, urged “all involved in the elections to act with restraint and integrity to ensure the will of the people can be expressed peacefully at the ballot box”.

 Increasing intolerance –

Magufuli, elected in 2015, at first made wildly popular moves such as curbing foreign travel for government officials or showing up in person to make sure civil servants were doing their work.

Then, he banned political rallies and became increasingly intolerant of dissent.

A series of tough media laws were passed, arrests of journalists, activists and opposition members soared and several opposition members were killed.

The opposition and analysts have expressed serious concerns about the fairness of the election, pointing in particular to a polls body comprising commissioners personally appointed by Magufuli.

Magufuli touts his expansion of free education, rural electrification and infrastructure projects such as railways, a hydropower dam set to double electricity output and the revival of the national airline.

However analysts say while the economy grew at an impressive pre-coronavirus average of six percent, there was little job creation and aggressive tax collection has hurt the private sector and made doing business harder.

The IMF expects growth to slow to 1.9 percent this year.

The election campaign has taken place with little regard to the coronavirus pandemic. Tanzania stopped giving out official data on infection numbers in April, and Magufuli has declared the country Covid-free, which he attributes to the power of prayer.

On the mainland, just over 29 million registered voters will cast their ballots, while some 566,000 will vote in Zanzibar from 7 am (0400 GMT) until 4 pm (1300 GMT).

Source: AFP

Guinea opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo said on Monday he had won the first round of the Oct. 18 presidential election, but his claim was quickly disputed by the electoral commission and the government, setting the stage for a stand-off.

“Despite the serious anomalies that marred the smooth running of the … election and in view of the results that came out of the ballot boxes, I am victorious in this election in the first round,” Diallo told journalists and cheering supporters.

He did not give any figures but said the tally was based on his party’s count, not an official tally being conducted by the national election commission, which has yet to publish results.

The electoral commission said Diallo’s claim carried no weight.

“The Independent National Electoral Commission is the only body authorised to give provisional results. It is neither for a political party nor for any individual to do so,” Mamadi 3 Kaba, a spokesman for the commission, told Reuters.

“We regret the attitude of Mr. Diallo and we say that this declaration is null and void,” he added.

Guinea’s government said in a statement late on Monday that Diallo’s statement was irresponsible and could sow confusion and undermine peace in the West African state. It warned it could launch criminal charges against him.

The government said results from over 15,000 polling stations were still being tallied. “It is impossible, at this stage of the process, to have neither trends, let alone the results of the vote.”

Diallo is the main challenger to Guinea’s 82-year-old incumbent president, Alpha Conde, who is seeking a third mandate after a constitutional change in March which sparked deadly protests.

Following his announcement, Diallo’s supporters swept into the streets in his strongholds, declaring their alleged victory.

Diallo said on Twitter that three young men were killed in the capital, and several others were injured by security forces while they celebrated his victory.

The government was not immediately available to comment on the deaths.

Security Minister Damantang Albert Camara earlier accused Diallo’s party of publishing false results, and warned it risked triggering violence.

“This strategy of forced, premature and unjustified celebration was carefully planned well before the election,” Camara said in a statement.

Rights groups say at least 50 people having been killed over the past year during demonstrations against the constitutional change that allowed Conde to seek at least six more years in power.

(REUTERS)

The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, who is also the current President of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is on a mission of the 15 nation-bloc in Bamako.

He was received by the transitional president Bah Ndaw on Sunday to take stock of the political transition and discuss the next steps to ensure that the deadline of the eventual election is met.

All activity is towards regional solidarity with the now embargo-free Mali still regrouping post-coup d’état August.

The Ghanaian president is the first head of state to visit the West African nations since the ECOWAS-imposed sanctions were lifted.

Source: Africa News

Thousands of opposition supporters have rallied in Abidjan to protest against Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara’s plan to seek a third term, as tensions rise in the lead-up to the country’s high-stakes election.

Three weeks before the October 31 vote, some 20,000 people made their way into a stadium in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital by early afternoon on Saturday, with some holding banners reading: “The people say no to an illegal third term.”

Ouattara, 78, announced in August he will seek another term after the sudden death of his handpicked successor the previous month created a leadership vacuum at the governing RDHP party.

The president’s decision infuriated the opposition who says Ouattara is violating the constitution by seeking another term. Ouattara, in power for a decade, says a 2016 constitutional change means his two-term limit has been reset.

The constitutional council has cleared him and three other candidates to run, including 86-year-old former President Henri Konan Bedie. Those barred include Ouattara’s predecessor Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, both of whom played key roles in a crisis that claimed more than 3,000 lives after disputed elections a decade ago. Both men are living outside the country but retain powerful support at home.

More than a dozen people have been killed in violent protests in recent weeks, sparking memories of the 2010-2011 civil war that broke out when Gbagbo refused to stand down after the electoral commission declared Ouattara the winner.

Opposition figures have called for a civil disobedience campaign and for the election to be postponed, but have stopped short of saying they will boycott the poll, while the RDHP has said the election will take place regardless of whether they participate.

Protester Bohui Armel said the people taking part in Saturday’s rally wanted “to simply to say no to Ouattara’s third term”.

“This is not a political party story. It is not a story of sympathisers but it is a story of the people of Ivory Coast who want to claim their freedom.”

“My advice to President Ouattara is that Ivorians should sit down to discuss. We want peace. We don’t want war,” Eve Botti, a supporter of the FPI opposition party, told the Reuters news agency.

The polls are seen as the biggest test yet of the tenuous stability achieved in the world’s top cocoa producer since the post-election violence that engulfed the country a decade ago.

“This is an extremely big test for Ivory Coast,” Jessica Moody, a researcher in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera last month. “There is a high risk that the election will be contentious and will send the country back to war.”

Amid the rising tensions, envoys from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc, the African Union and the United Nations headed earlier this week to Abidjan where they met officials, the opposition and members of the civil society.

“The joint mission expressed deep concern over the lack of trust among Ivorian political actors,” according to a joint statement from the delegation led by Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Ghana’s foreign minister and current chair of the ECOWAS council of ministers.

The delegation “strongly condemned the acts of violence and hate speech with ethnic overtones, which have unfortunately entered the field of political competition and are likely to have a negative impact on the progress made so far in the country”. it said.

This week’s mission was the second by the UN’s special envoy for West Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chamba, who last month called for a “peaceful, inclusive, transparent and credible presidential election” after meeting with President Ouattara.

The International Crisis Group last week called for the election to be postponed and for ballot preparations to be overhauled.

“The chances of this election spawning a serious crisis are high,” the independent think-tank said.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Eleven political and military figures arrested during Mali’s coup have been released, including former prime minister Boubou Cisse, the transition authorities announced.

New army strongman Assimi Goita issued an official statement late Wednesday saying “the political and military personalities arrested on August 18 have been set free”.

They would however “remain at the disposition of the courts if needed”.

Those released including former National Assembly speaker Moussa Timbine and eight generals.

The rebels put in place a president and a transition government while retaining a grip on power.

A transition government tasked with leading Mali back to civilian rule was appointed on Monday, with numerous members of the junta occupying key posts.

Colonel Goita was named vice president of the transition government last month.

West African regional bloc ECOWAS on Tuesday lifted its tough sanctions on Mali after recording “notable advances towards constitutional normalisation”.

The 15-nation group called for the civilian and military figures detained during the bloodless coup to be freed.

ECOWAS has also demanded the dissolution of the junta, which calls itself the National Council for the Salvation of the People.

(AFP)

Mali’s interim president Bah Ndaw appointed a 25-strong government on Monday in which members of the military occupy key posts, according to a decree broadcast live on state television.

At least four central cabinet posts — defence, security, territorial administration and national reconciliation — go to colonels in the army, said the decree read by the president’s secretary-general Sekou Traore.

(AFP)