Mali’s ruling junta will postpone a constitutional referendum but maintain a previously agreed timeline to return to civilian rule, a government spokesperson said in a statement read to the press on Friday.
“The transitional government informs national and international opinion that the date of the referendum scheduled for March 19, 2023, will be slightly postponed,” Abdoulaye Maiga said.
The referendum is a milestone on the road to elections promised for February 2024.
Mali’s ruling junta said last Sunday that it was expelling the head of the human rights division of MINUSMA, the United Nations (UN) mission there, giving him 48 hours to leave the country.
The foreign ministry had declared Guillaume Ngefa Atonodok Andali, head of MINUSMA’s human rights section, persona non grata, said a statement issued by government spokesman, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.
“This measure comes after the destabilising and subversive actions of Monsieur Andali,” added the statement, which was also read out on national television news.
Andali had taken it upon himself to decide who were the representatives of civil society, ignoring the authorities and national institutions, the statement added.
“Andali’s bias was even more evident during the last review of the United Nations Security Council on Mali”, the statement added.
On January 27, Aminata Cheick Dicko criticised the regime at a special UN Security Council briefing on Mali.
Its mission also included the protection of civilians, contributing to peace efforts and defending human rights. But the security situation has continued to deteriorate in the West African country.
The military regime has repeatedly blocked MINUSMA’s attempts to investigate growing reports of human rights abuses carried out by the armed forces.
Two workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross were kidnapped in northern Mali, the organisation said, the latest abduction in the troubled West African country.
—AFP
