Five years ago in Mali, the soldiers overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. They then lead a second coup to overthrow the transition president Bah N’Daw that they had installed in power, while occupying the key positions. The fight against jihadism, the dissolution of political parties, sovereignism as a political engine. Five after, what is the balance sheet? Oumar Berté is a associate researcher at the University of Rouen in politics and public law.
RFI : Last week, the Malian junta announced the arrest of several soldiers within the army, at least 55 according to RFI sources. All are accused of having wanted to “destabilize the institutions of the Republic”. How do you appreciate these events when the military has just marked their fifth year in power?
Oumar Berté: This is the first time that the military authorities in power in Mali have recorded what one could call a real coup in the Malian army. These arrests are involved in a fairly particular context for the army because it is currently recorded huge attacks of rebel armed groups, but also terrorists. One can wonder if this situation which arrives in this context could not have an involvement on the Malian army, as a disorganization of the chain of command, even a settlement of accounts within the army, as happened in 2013.
Among the suspects arrested, there is a French citizen, a certain Yann Vézilier, That Bamako accuses of being a spy, but above all of being the one who, according to the junta press release, “mobilized the abassé Dembélé and Nema Sagara generals”. Paris, for its part, denies these accusations And presents it as a simple member of his embassy in Mali. Again, what about this new showdown between the two countries?
Whenever there is a situation concerning the authorities in power which would be likely to put them in difficulty, they always seek to involve France there. And each time, it hits the bull’s eye, considering that France would always be behind everything that happens in Mali to destabilize the authorities to power. It is a classic, in reality.
Read tooMali: five years after the putsch, the country remains plunged into uncertainty
The main argument of the military to justify the 2020 putsch was the fight against the jihadist threat and the armed groups, as well as the reconquest of the whole of Malian territory. Today, what assessment do you make of this fight and this reconquest?
Remarkable efforts have been made, especially in the training of the military. But the country’s security situation is particularly worrying today. From north to south, the center, the west, all parts of the country record attacks by armed groups. At the very heart of Bamako, a coordinated attack of a large scale even destroyed and put out the presidential plane.
The French army, arrived in 2013 in Mali, was expelled from the country for the benefit of the Russian Mercenaries group Wagner. His main feat, alongside the Malian forces, is his victory in the city of Kidal, resumed rebels two years ago. But following this, the Russian partners suffered many defeats until they announce their departure last June. That can bring his replacement again, always Russian, Africa Corps ?
Wagner did not achieve the objectives assigned to him. There are also financial questions not to be excluded. Russia wants to take control of this question directly, especially since beyond the question of finances that the Malian state pays for this mercenary group, there is the grabbing of the mining sites that Wagner garnered for the benefit of society. It goes without saying that it is the Russian state that will now appropriate it.
In terms of conservation of democratic achievements, there is objectively a clear decline. Political parties are dissolved, the media are regularly sanctioned. In your opinion, when do you put the rocking of the junta, if you can say so?
In reality, the transitional government of Mali changed in 2021 when Assimi Goïta took over the country. We arrived today at a point of no return, that is to say that the transitional authorities are completely uninhibited in the limitation of fundamental freedoms.
Mali, with its two neighbors, Burkina Faso and Niger, decided to leave ECOWAS to form the Alliance of the States of the Sahel (AES). What are the benefits of this alliance for Mali?
With the exception of a few meetings, there is in reality no concrete action that the Alliance of the States of the Sahel was able to set up. Today, AES has no funds to finance anything. Beyond the solidarity between the three countries and the facilitation of military cooperation in the fight against terrorism, which also struggles to find the expected results, in reality the alliance of the states of the Sahel has not really implemented concrete actions.
Read tooMali: five years after the putsch, the country remains plunged into uncertainty
