Transcripts For ALJAZ Inside Story 2020 Ep 194 20240712 : vi

ALJAZ Inside Story 2020 Ep 194 July 12, 2024

Under pressure to step down mollys president is accused of failing to improve the economy and deal with threats from groups hes dissolved the Constitutional Court but controversially overturned Election Results in march but is that enough of what if turmoil spirals out of control this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program Adrian Finnegan its been described as the worst civil unrest in mali has seen in decades violent antigovernment protests this week left several people dead president abraham. Has promised to form a National Unity government the country has been without one since elections earlier this year hes dissolved the constitutional course thats faced controversy since it overturned provisional results from parliamentary elections in march but will that be enough to restore peace protesters say that the government is corrupt and that the economy is failing and they want president catered to resign now serious shelagh bellis reports. In bamako a solemn feel well for protest as they come see say the 30 year old was killed on friday his family says he was shot in front of mollys national assembly. His mother was sick already when we broke the news to her she had a seizure the neighbors came out and we comforted her with words from islam. Thousands of people gathered for fridays protests the 3rd since. They pushed their way into the grounds of parliament and the National Television station then tires and barricaded roads in the Capital Police responded with tear gas. Gunfire was heard 60 people were arrested. The protesters returned on saturday but in smaller numbers. Their anger is directed at president abraham. Demonstrations began in june after malis Constitutional Court overturned Election Results and evolved to include frustrations over the economy and lead corruption and insecurity from groups. Repression reinforces our determination and we will continue with our watch until the end of the regime of ip case which today is accounts of a mali on saturday evening case who responded in a televised address. To continue to do privilege i will continue to favor dialogue with all the active forces of the nation for the establishment of a consensual Government Team composed of republican and patriotic groups and not the break is end demolishes of the country mali deserves basic the man. He promised to dissolve the pools at the heart of the disputed Election Results hold reelections in contested areas and form a National Unity government next week theyre an important 1st step. And i think the idea is that the president is going to join we have the opposition and have hopefully real dialogue. And and hopefully this will take place under the eyes of eco wasse the Regional Group that i think can actually help make sure that this moves forward smoothly. No position had earlier rejected katies offer to reform the constitution and demanded the dissolution of Parliament Following fridays embraced 3 of their leaders were arrested and they had cooled his range and its unclear where the president has his concessions will satisfy them and stop the scenes repeating. The bonus. Money struggle to contain a rebellion in the north since 2012 heres a closer look at some of the armed groups that are operating in the sahara there are 4 main groups eisel boko haram a powerful group called Jamaat Al Islam while muslim in and answer all islam both al qaeda affiliates they operate in northern bicheno faso on the border with mali the group i saw in the great us a horror has been launching attacks in the jeff since the end of 2016 boko haram at iceland west africa are operating from both east and nigeria near the border with major chad and with the defeat of iceland iraq some of its fighters may move to the sun hell through libya. Lets bring in our guests for todays discussion joining us from bamako is fatima. Whos the special advisor to the mali and minister of Foreign Affairs from the fall abood who is director of the nordic sense of a conflict transformation and a specialist on north west African Affairs and from washington d. C. William lawrence for us diplomat in west africa will welcome to you all thought him if we can start with you 1st the president is being accused of failing to deal with the economy out of failing to deal with the armed groups in the north hes dissolved the Constitutional Court is that going to be enough to appease the protesters. That we have and that. They could you bend with us i think that you. Know they say that it is a bit difficult i. 2012 might have been going to i love it come up for political instability. Issues that always an issue but its been a lot to handle has a president and looking had so what happened in the north and trying to also sell what is happening. In bamako its not easy for any any government and looking at right now in 2020 and about the house bill with 45 feet which camelot with the economy called economy crisis and i think that makes the population maybe im happy because i can bring a lot of issues already angry about how the present inhabiting the security issue has been not in muddy and how much i say about how the president is handling the political situation in mali they help and if you can help the creation and beyond that tell us who handle and and thats why the process process in march when they farm to the movement which was that the movement was great had people is. How they believe that the government didnt know handled very well the. Elections. There have been calls for the president to resign is he going to. The president not going to resign and i dont think that is the solution because the president is open but that i dont and i dont think that hes asking for the president with a new phone anymore and i think thats been a part of the quest and now they are open for battle thats why they have been they propose they have some propose that propose that the president create the National Unity government and they also propose the president who some day in thats not at all offended also propose that that meant to be solved. The Constitutional Court and you know how do you know in any of negotiation who you would have watching demand but who would not necessarily get what you meant and i think thats why the president had to give that several speeches where he will say that he was open fought a battle and i dont think that the mission of this president is the study shows and is not what the book mission also is asking for. And are about whats your take on this money as private assess promise to rapidly form a government that is quote open to facing the challenges of the day what are the main by that and what is that going to be enough to placate the protest us. First of all you know mighty world bear in. Mind and vicious cycle of violence for a long period of time and even the congress didnt has been seeing the succession of several Prime Ministers who came and resigned as well and the issue here is that in 2050 there was an agreement on the loose in the country and. Coming out from the cycle of violence by signing and parties signed. A Peace Agreement. That gave in 2015 and they gave a lot of hope for the population in in mali imaad size even though there are there are some limitations are due to the agreement but 5 years from from from that agreement that actually raised so much it so many expectations for for the population in mali we havent seen the implementation its still the implementation is still for the dragon by the government and the parties will sign the the green meant and that read so many questions the country is fragmented and the country is in contest politics the burden for ration of corruptions that no one can deny that everybody really on that and perception of inequalities is is what the people are defeating of the people who are in street actually to have the feed in of increased perception of many qualities in the country where lawrence in washington how much blame for the disaffection that were currently seeing in mali can be laid squarely on the shoulders of the president is he as thought about seems to imply a victim of circumstance or just inept as a leader. I would say its more a question of circumstance than lack of competence or lack of good will molly is one of the poorest countries in the world that has some of the least government to pass it in the world and its set by a whole set of crises many of which have been numerated by the other 2 guests and you can add to that the dimension of Ethnic Violence religious extremism questions and a range of other issues that made mali very very hard to govern right now that said i think the main thing the president has made or at least according to the mass of protesters is that hes turned a deaf ear to a lot of their dominions there was a meeting in late june it was very sure to didnt see that really listening to them and as he says the concessions it doesnt seem to be concessions from a ship but just concessions to 0 whats being discussed at the moment and so theres a real opportunity here given that we can mess up passage of the government and all these myriad overlapping crises for the president to turn a page and. Towards a more inclusive approach to politics as he says he wants to do and as the producer are demanding i think they keep sort of asking for his resignation and then a nasty resignation friskiness i think in part because they want to. And at this point that the ships passed in paul i think its interesting to compare mali briefly to sudan and a jury and city and United International mediation that march he worked out jury or used them on his not really have as much progress in terms of the political you know so the president will have to turn to International Help under equal loss and other. Players including European Countries United States can help as needed sudan and there are prospects for negotiation room everyone forgets that mali was one of africas strongest democracies for about 20 years until things fell apart in 2012 so there is a track record of the city in mali is to turn back to that to its own model that its had for so fast im a given what we just heard. How does the president plan to tackle the demands of the protesters. As i said the president after the 1st process that happened the president had made it must be read he said that he was open trying to battle and he was open to talk to the protesters but ive taken propaganda and will call it something that would be good for the population and what the it has a well for the well being of the country and last night he actually made a speech when i try to handle one of the one of the medals. To dispel the Constitutional Court and ask that he decided no course hes going to elect a new monger. You know court so that those new members with the with the right people with they have the right people because the government would be able to gather to address the demand of the nation which he is also the fact that some people believe that they have been a fraud in some places getting to. Make an election so asked about it then you might get out of the. Constitutional court i place that that will solve the next problem and i said that there will create so you need a National Unity government and that we should be able to do some the demand of the professors. If you were advising the government in. What your advice be how did the president the Prime Minister move forward should be should that be a government of National Unity in the 1st place. 1st of all. It has to be some kind of Lessons Learned about what happened in in mali and not reinvent the wheel from from scratch 1st of all you know like i said and mentioned the Peace Agreement that was signed in nigeria and it was signed in 2015. Brought up some groups from the nor all together to be able to move forward however like weve seen you know and this is what will not be repeated by the current government is the lack of will from from from the parties or from the government from implemented whatever agreement they come up with thats one and the single thing is that we need to identify exactly what are the interests of a key players in actors in the conflict in money and im back to mention here france and our dear. What is at stake and what they can do exactly especially if the un members especially among geria of the end Mediation Commission so early and one of the reasons men also of the agreement is complete absence of Civil Society organizations that represent the people from the north and from the south and this is very important because it does not give and upper hand to one specific ethnic group or a number of groups but each show that there is a genuine dialogue among everybody and especially the the departed tradition affected by his vision of the population that feed and represented especially for example women in our own and city and young people and thirdly if you know the the the vast majority of money and people have no idea and they have no knowledge of this Peace Agreement for instance this is an example or not they hardly knew about it so how can we bring all these dialogue that we talk here. Here at the government level or at the agreement level to the population that actually have to to face every day every day hardship economy at least socially divides along ethnic groups and the basic needs are not not met at all for several. Years so that talk about a dialogue about a future about whats going to happen in 5 years is no longer going to win work to that for the president the president has to show that actually he can resolve some of the basic needs right now and try to build 1st of all the trust or any agreement on that out across the us thats the making ok william just before i buy a put another point to you or comment on on what youve heard would you agree broadly with that. Well i would just like to add that sort of politics and peace making an image is a lot of that whos in one position at the same instant in terms of the. Irony of their marriage or their place in but its also about Institution Building and why i think one of the recommendations of eco us was to reform the way that concert or operates not just replace the members and this gets to the larger point its to ship building is a capacity problem here and so you can as your 2nd guest said earlier you can have a Prime Minister premised afterburners Prime Minister and we shuffle cabinet after a shuttle cabinet but theres a point at which the Musical Chairs and so your problem if youre not building up as he said trust and capacity in these various governments to sions answer to the last piece that i think hasnt been covered in cover but alex injected another way here is that when you talk to mali southerners erupting resentful of all of tension about the problems of the north and northerners resentful of all the resources the concentrated south and thats something that needs to be at meijer focus of this dialogue end of the international we need to be resources for more in south and then explain to the if you will or you talked about the opposition a new sort of the money had been one of the strongest amok receipts in in africa the opposition in the country has faced something of a dearth of political talent until recently but seems to have coalesced on the. Dico of late who is he wore on his ambitions. Well hes a solid as who doesnt really a lot of you not believe in the most extreme or. You know one of the clients is as we say so you could call it a conservative muslim cleric of sorts who was a supporter of kay that until you turn against him or out to the us 15 and then made some sort of crazy statements about homosexuality is punishment somali and other things like that but i think in my mind its a signal to me that at times he may be a little bit of an opportunistic politician more than a mouthpiece of. What he does really in. Elements of that live just side and he has a lot of supporters because of that and he is a charismatic leader who can galvanize crowds and thats one of the reasons why. It has coalesced around him but if you look at the other 6 leaders arrested over the last 2 days theyre very different from each represent different factions of model politics mine society and so this really is another well up Opposition Organization and to a degree to which the pope here represent all those who is the truth he could emerge as a leader and to the degree to which that hes been says a more narrow agenda i think. That scene from that we have you or i hope no one of those seeking for all of the opposition d or care for him up where does ecowas come into this its long been involved in mali has it ramped up its assistance of late is it helping the president navigate this crisis. Yes i think so far to collapse has been cleaned out they came here weeks ago we have humanity so far enough from a collapse and looting the one from nigeria enough so and he had a body when they met the president and they also met. At the simple call users who have been against the regime they have been trying to understand the crisis so that they can propose a solution and an end i ask that they ask right having trying to see how they can implement a solution and one of the solution was. They advise the president to create a National Unity government and also and also trying to you how they can solve the Constitutional Court and also try to redo the ls shown in different. Parts of my game where they have been when depleti

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