In Bid to Change Mali’s Constitution, Keita Riles Conflict-Weary Voters

In Bid to Change Mali’s Constitution, Keita Riles Conflict-Weary Voters
Mali’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, speaks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and French President Emmanuel Macron during their visit with soldiers from Operation Barkhane, Gao, Mali, May 19, 2017 (AP photo by Christophe Petit).

Mali’s capital, Bamako, experienced two disruptions last weekend: a protest against a proposed constitutional referendum on Saturday, followed by a terrorist attack on Sunday.

The attack, claimed by the extremist alliance Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, killed five people at a resort on the city’s outskirts and, naturally, grabbed international headlines. But the protest, and the events that gave rise to it, reveal more about how the country is being governed and the challenges it faces two years after the signing of a landmark peace deal.

For weeks, frustration has been growing with President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s determination to hold the referendum on proposed constitutional amendments that would create a Senate, with the president in charge of appointing one-third of its members, as well as allow the president to name the head of the Constitutional Court, which ratifies election results. The vote had been scheduled for July 9, but the government announced yesterday it would be pushed back “to a future date.”

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