Mali: The Junta Announces New Constitution

The National Committee for the recovery of democracy and the restoration of the rule (CNRDRE, junta) "adopted the basic act," a constitution of some 70 articles that will be force during the transition, according to a text read in the evening (Tuesday) by a soldier on public television. 

The preamble states that the people of Mali "affirm its determination to perpetuate the rule of law and pluralist democracy in which fundamental rights Rights (...) are guaranteed. " No member of the junta and its future government will be allowed to stand for parliamentary and presidential elections that the new government is planning, says that "fundamental act", which does not specify the date of these elections, nor the duration of the transition. Throughout the transition, the junta will be the "supreme body" and its leader, Captain Amadou Sanogo, is "head of state", which will appoint a government. 

Reprobation unanimous international 

Junta overthrew the president on March 22 Amadou Toumani Toure a few weeks before the presidential election of April 29, earning a unanimous international condemnation and conviction of almost all of the political class in Mali. The new government, composed mainly of non-commissioned members, claims to have acted in response to the failure of President Toure facing a new Tuareg rebellion active since mid-January in the North. 

The announcement of this new Constitution comes amid that an extraordinary summit of heads of state in West Africa in Abidjan decided Tuesday to send, within 48 hours, a delegation of several presidents to "enable a rapid return to constitutional order" in Mali. This delegation will be led by the head of the Ivorian state, Alassane Ouattara, acting chief of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS, 15 states). It will consist of his counterparts from Burkina (Blaise Compaore), Benin (Yayi) Liberia (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf), Niger (Mahamadou Issoufou) and Nigeria (Goodluck Jonathan). 

ECOWAS "authorizes" also "the rise power of his strength to deal with any eventuality, "warned the participants in this summit, which also demanded a cease-fire immediately across Mali, where the rebellion maintains pressure in the north. The Burkinabe President was appointed mediator in the crisis in Mali with a "mission to make contact with all stakeholders to engage effectively in dialogue to restore peace in the country." 

" Preserving the territorial integrity, there including by force "

"In case of failure by the movements of this decision, the conference will take all measures to end the rebellion and seek to preserve the territorial integrity of Mali, including the use of force ", have warned the heads of state of ECOWAS. Increasingly isolated, the junta plays the card of standardization in the country. With the reopening Tuesday government and business, marking the resumption of a near-normal activity in Bamako, the junta announced the same evening the immediate lifting of the curfew at night, and the reopening of borders for Wednesday morning.

Two presidential candidates, former Prime Minister Modibo Sidibe and businessman Jamil Bittar, were released Tuesday night by the junta, which had held since the coup along with 12 other personalities, including ministers of the deposed regime. The junta leader had called Tuareg rebels to "cease hostilities" and negotiate, then they control most of northeastern Mali and now threaten the garrison of Kidal, one of the most important cities of the region . He had also addressed the political, urging them to "join without delay" the junta to "return to constitutional order." 

The front anti-junta, created Sunday and involving many parties and associations, for its part announced want to "engage without delay in dialogue "with the coup leaders for their return to the barracks and" defeat the coup. " Soldiers have prevented Tuesday MPs joining the Malian National Assembly officially dissolved as other institutions. Finally, President Amadou Toumani Toure, which is unknown since the exact fate five days, is " alive, healthy, " said Ivorian President Ouattara, confirming the information given on the same day by the French government. He said he had "talked (Tuesday) morning."