Mali Junta Leader Gets Backing to Serve as President Until 2030

Mali’s military leader, General Assimi Goïta, has won the backing of key political allies to be declared president for the next five years. The move mirrored similar actions by fellow military-led Alliance of Sahel States members Niger and Burkina Faso. The AES includes Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all ruled by military governments.

Niger made a similar move in March, naming its coup leader Abdourahamane Tiani president with a renewable five-year term. The forum also called for the dissolution of all existing political parties and tightening rules to create new ones, raising fears of an end to Mali’s multi-party system, which was introduced in 1991 after decades of dictatorship.

Supporters claimed the changes aimed to reform Mali’s political system, while critics, like exiled opposition leader Ismaël Sacko, described the proposals as a junta-imposed “diktat.”