MALI
MALI – MINUSMA, with its 150 Senegalese peacekeepers, withdrew from Ogossagou after it was handed over to the Malian authorities
The last Senegalese troops stationed at the MINUSMA temporary operational base in Ogossagou, Bandiagara region, in central Mali, left the scene on 04 August 2023, following the formal handover of the base to the Malian authorities the day before. This event marks an important step in the withdrawal of MINUSMA from Mali, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2690, adopted on 30 June, at the request of the Malian authorities.
The convoy of nearly 150 Senegalese peacekeepers, who will be repatriated in the coming weeks following the closure of the base, left Ogossagou at 5 am this Sunday 06 August 2023 and arrived safely in Mopti at 10:30 pm.
It should be noted that in February 2022, an improvised explosive device attack on this road killed three peacekeepers. The withdrawal was carried out in close coordination with the military command of the Malian Armed Forces in Mopti and with their support.
The closure of the Ogossagou base is part of the first phase of the Mission’s withdrawal plan. Two other peripheral camps – Ber and Goundam in the Timbuktu region – and Ménaka in northeastern Mali will be closed by the end of August 2023. At the same time, MINUSMA has already reduced its staff in Mali, with 675 military personnel having definitively left the country since 1 July.
The Ogossagou base was created in March 2020, in response to intercommunal clashes that had resulted in the death of many civilians and the displacement of several others, tearing the social fabric. The presence of peacekeepers and the action of the civilian components of the Mission as well as the Regional Reconciliation Support Teams (PRRA), set up by the Malian government, helped reduce violence and paved the way for the signing of a peace agreement on October 8, 2021, by representatives of 12 Dogon and Peulhs villages in the Bankass and Dimbal circles.
This agreement marked a major step forward in the peacebuilding process in Ogossagou. To strengthen this agreement, MINUSMA assisted the Malian authorities in re-establishing local conflict resolution mechanisms and continued to support communities in Ogossagou to strengthen social cohesion and improve their livelihoods, through the implementation of quick impact projects. Significant results have been obtained in this context, including exchanges of visits between communities, restitution of stolen livestock, common management of agricultural and pastoral land, the creation of favourable conditions for women to fetch firewood and the provision of assistance to local populations, including health services provided by military personnel at the base.
“MINUSMA civilian components in Mopti, with the Senegalese battalion, have done much to ensure that communities not only reconcile but also contribute to reviving the culture of peace that existed between them before the tragic events of 2019 and 2020,” said El-Ghassim Wane, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of MINUSMA.
Mali is turning a decisive page in its political life. By a presidential decree, adopted by the extraordinary Council of Ministers on 13 May 2025, the authorities of the military transition have officially dissolved all political parties and organizations of a political nature in the country. This is unprecedented in the country. In addition to generating a wave of national and international outrage, this decree marks the end of multi-party democracy.
A dissolution with the taste of “reform”
The announcement was made on the ORTM channel by Mamani Nassiré, Minister delegate to the Prime Minister responsible for political reforms. According to him, this decision is part of a broad process of “re-founding” political life. The government says it wants to “clean up” the partisan landscape by reducing the number of political parties now estimated at nearly 300. The government wants to set up and review their funding, which amounts to 0.25% of annual tax revenues. No political party can now organize meetings or carry out activities, under penalty of sanctions. On the other hand, elected representatives and officials belonging to political parties can continue their missions, on the sole condition that they no longer claim to be members of their party.
A repressed measure
For several weeks, many political parties, including the “Yelema” party, had denounced this project. Its president, Youssouf Diawara, said: “Political parties are not the problem in Mali. The emergency is insecurity, high cost of living, health and education”. Indeed, the political parties that oppose this decree see it as a violation of the Constitution and a setback for democracy. A citizen protest movement had emerged in early May. A demonstration, which gathered several hundred people on May 3, 2025 in Bamako, was quickly dispersed by the security forces. During this demonstration, several opposition and civil society figures were arrested and some people are reported missing.
Sanctioned media
In the past four years, Mali has seen two military coups. On 18 August 2020, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and his Prime Minister Boubou Cissé were removed from power before being arrested. Nine months later, the transitional president Bah N’Daw and his prime minister Moctar Ouane are deposed on May 24, 2021. In ten years, Mali has experienced three coups with the military takeover in 2012, and the fifth in the history of Mali after the coups d’état of 1991 and 1968. The Malian authorities have increased restrictions on both foreign and domestic media. They accuse them of partiality in the treatment of information concerning the situation of the country and disinformation. At the national level, in December 2024, the Djoliba TV News report was withdrawn. The High Authority for Communication (HAC) of Mali. The channel TV5 Monde has been suspended again “until further notice” on 13 May 2025. She is accused of “lack of impartiality” in her coverage of opposition protest movements on May 3, 2025 in her report for the 20:30 newspaper. It had already been suspended for three months in 2024.
Suspension of political parties: After Burkina Faso and Niger, it is the turn of Mali
The repeal of the charter of political parties that set their legal and financial frameworks, leaves an institutional vacuum according to its refractory. Political parties no longer exist legally. Only civil society still exists. But it remains closely monitored by the state. With this new decision taken by the transitional government, Mali joins its ESA neighbours. Before him, Burkina Faso suspended political party activities since September 2022. In Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani ordered the dissolution of parties on 26 March 2025 following controversial national assizes.
The head of the military regime in Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani, landed on Thursday, November 23, 2023 in Bamako and is to meet his counterpart at the head of the Malian junta for his first international visit since the coup in Niamey, found a AFP correspondent.
Mali and Burkina, led by soldiers who came to power in coups in 2020 and 2022, had quickly shown their solidarity with the generals of Niamey after taking power in late July.
Together, they created a “Alliance of Sahel States” (AES) which provides mutual assistance in the event of an attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the three States and strengthened economic ties.
United against international pressure for a return to democratic regimes, the two military regimes are also united against the jihadists whose attacks are ravaging their country.
General Tiani is to stay a few hours in Bamako and meet the head of the Malian junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, for a “friendship and work” visit, according to the Malian presidency.
The duration of the transition in Niger is not yet known, but General Tiani announced shortly after taking power that it would not exceed three years. In Mali, the presidential election scheduled for early 2024 has been postponed indefinitely.
A statement issued on Thursday morning indicates that Bamako will host from 23 November to 1 December two ministerial meetings “with a view to identifying prospects for the operationalization of the AES”, including the drafting of texts, the establishment of the bodies and the procedures for its operation.
The first will bring together the Ministers of Economy and Trade on 25 November for economic development issues. The foreign ministers of the three countries will meet on 30 November for political and diplomatic matters.
These meetings will precede a meeting of defence ministers at a later date.
In Mali, General El Hadj Ag Gamou was appointed Wednesday, November 22, 2023 governor of the Kidal region. One week after the capture of the city, stronghold of the rebels of the CSP (Permanent Strategic Framework), by the Malian army and its proxies of Wagner, the appointment of this military leader Tuareg faithful to the Malian State reveals a strategy of the Malian transitional authorities.
General El Hadj Ag Gamou does not like to appear in public, but he is well known to all Malians, especially in the north. In 2012, while Tuareg army cadres deserted one by one to join the independence rebellion, the one who was still a colonel was the only one to remain faithful to Bamako.
Two years later, Gamou created the Tuareg Imghad and Allies Self-Defence Group (Gatia), a northern armed group, signatory to the future 2015 peace agreement, within the pro-State Malian Platform.
Distrust of the transitional authorities
Two years ago, in December 2021, the transitional Malian authorities disembark him from his post as inspector general of the armed forces. At the time, the CSP is not a rebellion, this coalition still brings together all the armed groups signatory to the peace agreement and the game of General Gamou within it is considered troubled by the leaders of the Transition. But mistrust does not last: today, Bamako is counting on him to bring the inhabitants of Kidal back into the fold of the State.
General Gamou is not from Kidal, but he knows the city and the region well, where he served for a long time. Above all, it is Imghad, a Tuareg fraction considered as «vassal» of that of the Ifoghas, who assumes the traditional leadership in Kidal and from which the main rebel leaders originate. «He is the one who will be able to gather», judges a Malian security source. «He will reassure the Tuaregs», says a close friend of General Gamou.
