The new Basic Law is a key element in the vast reform project that the military is using to justify its continued rule of the country until March 2024.
The head of Mali’s ruling junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, called on his compatriots on Tuesday June 13 to approve the draft constitution submitted to referendum on Sunday, which he said would be free from foreign interference.
“I’m asking Malians to go out en masse on Sunday June 18 to support the draft constitution by voting yes,” he said in a speech in a stadium in the central town of Ségou. “The draft constitution was drawn up by Malians,” he added, assuring us that, despite a certain amount of opposition, the text was “the result of consensual work by all the different parties”. “Even Malians in the diaspora were involved, but no foreigners were associated with its drafting”, he stressed.
The colonels, who took power by force in August 2020, have made the restoration of national sovereignty their mantra. They broke off their alliance with France against the jihadists and turned militarily and politically towards Russia. Sovereignty is one of the main principles of the constitution put to a referendum on Sunday.