Bamako: Mali's ruling junta will only organise elections to hand back power to civilians once the security situation has been completely stabilised, the military-appointed prime minister has said.
The West African nation has been ruled by juntas since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, with the worsening security situation aggravated by armed jihadist and separatist groups.
"The stabilisation phase must reach a point of no return, a point that is sufficiently stable to be able to organise elections," said prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga, without giving a date, during an address broadcast on state television and social media late Thursday.
Maiga is the first senior official to give even a vague outline of a power transfer since the military authorities failed to honour a commitment to leave by March 26, 2024.
Under pressure from regional bloc ECOWAS, the junta had promised to organise presidential elections in February and hand over power by the end of March, but drew domestic criticism after failing to do so.
The junta's ruling on Wednesday to indefinitely suspend the activities of political parties in the name of maintaining public order refuelled the outcry.
It was further fuelled a day later with a ban on media coverage of political parties, marking the latest crackdown on dissent.
The prime minister sought to justify the measures by saying that elections would be held once the security situation had been fully stabilised.
He said the state had regained control of its entire territory since ending its alliance with former colonial power France and the European Union in 2022, before forging closer ties with Russia.
But he added that stability would only be possible after the end of a national dialogue launched on December 31 by the head of the junta, Colonel Assimi Goita.
After local and regional talks, a national-level dialogue is due to begin from May 6, but it is not known how long it will take to implement the conclusions.
