Mali: Two opponents missing since Thursday, according to HRW

Two Malian opposition figures have been missing since Thursday after being abducted by “masked and armed men,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Friday, as political parties have been trying for several weeks to make their voices heard against the ruling junta.

Abba Alhassane, 68, secretary-general of the opposition party Convergence for the Development of Mali (CODEM), “was arrested at his home in Bamako by armed and masked men posing as gendarmes,” according to HRW, which interviewed his colleagues. They then “took him away in an unmarked car,” the organization continued in a statement.

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The same day, a leader of the Le Changement (Yelema) party, El Bachir Thiam, “was taken away by unidentified men in the streets of Kati,” near Bamako, HRW reported, also citing members of his party and local media.

“Alhassane and Thiam’s colleagues said they searched for them in police and gendarmerie stations in Bamako and Kati, but to no avail,” the NGO said.

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The two politicians “are currently being questioned by the relevant authorities for investigative purposes,” an official from the Ministry of Territorial Administration told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to comment.

Their disappearance comes amid heightened tensions between the military and political parties, which suspect the junta of wanting to dissolve them.

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After being silenced for a long time by the military, numerous parties grouped together in a coalition managed to mobilize several hundred people during a demonstration last weekend in Bamako.

This protest is one of the few in the country since the junta’s arrival following a double coup in 2020 and 2021.

According to HRW, the parties of Messrs. Alhassane and Thiam were among the political parties that took part in the demonstration.

Since then, the military has announced the suspension of all political activities in the country until “further notice,” citing “reasons of public order.”

The junta has failed to fulfill its commitment to hand over to elected civilians in March 2024.

In late April, a national consultation organized by the regime in Bamako, largely boycotted by opposition parties, recommended the dissolution of the political parties.