Mali - 2023 Parliamentary Elections
Malian authorities announced in June, ahead of another ECOWAS summit, a revised election timetable for the transition to end in 2024. Presidential elections would be held in February 2024, preceded by a referendum on a revised constitution in March 2023. Local elections will be held in June 2023 followed by a legislative ballot between October and November 2023. ECOWAS lifted a set of trade and financial sanctions against Mali after the military government committed to a March 2024 handover.
Originally scheduled for 2018, legislative elections were held in 2020, as were subsequent runoff elections. Restricted freedom of movement, logistical challenges, allegations of voter intimidation, election tampering, and financial limitations prevented many opposition candidates from campaigning in much of the central and northern parts of the country. In the months following the legislative elections, the constitutional court vacated key election results, especially in Bamako District, in favor of the then-ruling party. The court’s action led to widespread civil unrest and efforts by ECOWAS to resolve the ensuing constitutional crisis. Parliament was dissolved later in 2020 and replaced by an unelected National Transition Council.
The arrival of the controversial Russia-based private military company the Wagner Group (which is sanctioned by the UK), reportedly at Mali’s request, also raised concerns. The UK Government described reports of human rights abuses in Mali by the Wagner Group as “horrifying”. In April 2022 the EU suspended part its training mission in Mali, partly because of the lack of guarantees from authorities on the “non-interference by the Wagner Group”.
Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; forced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious abuses in a conflict, including unlawful and widespread civilian deaths or harm, and unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers by nonstate armed groups allied with the government; serious restrictions on free expression and media, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests of journalists, censorship, and enforcement of criminal libel and slander laws; inability of citizens to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections; serious government corruption; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child, early, and forced marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, and other forms of such violence; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of national and ethnic groups; trafficking in persons; vaguely worded laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, although not enforced; and existence of the worst forms of child labor.
Attacks by extremist groups and criminal elements against civilians and the armed forces occurred in all regions of the country. Extremist groups frequently employed improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to target civilians as well as government and international security forces. IEDs were also used repeatedly to target important infrastructure, including major national roads, cutting off communities from humanitarian assistance, important trade routes, and security forces.
Human rights organizations reported widespread allegations of arbitrary arrest and detention by transition government security forces, armed groups, and terrorist groups. Detentions often occurred in the wake of attacks by bandits or terrorists and were targeted against members of the ethnic group suspected of carrying out the attacks.
The military, Wagner Group forces, and several armed groups committed serious human rights abuses in the northern and central parts of the country. In addition to increased attacks in the center of the country, targeted and indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population in other parts of the country, notably in the north, significantly increased following the withdrawal of international forces, such as France’s Operation Barkhane. These armed groups included former separatist forces such as the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, High Council for the Unity of Azawad, and the Arab Movement of Azawad; northern militias aligned with the government, such as the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad and the Imghad Tuareg and Allies Self-Defense Group (GATIA); and terrorist and violent extremist organizations such as the Islamic State in the Sahel (formerly ISIS in the Greater Sahara) (ISIS-Sahel), JNIM, Macina Liberation Front, and al-Mourabitoun.
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