Mali’s military government, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, has dissolved all political parties and associations. The decision was announced in a televised statement on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, and marks the latest move by the junta to tighten its grip on power.
The suspension came ahead of planned demonstrations for Friday, forcing opposition groups to cancel the protest. Earlier protests on May 3 and 4 had seen demonstrators carry placards reading, “Down with dictatorship, long live democracy,” in one of the few public displays of resistance since the military takeover.
Tensions escalated in April after a national conference proposed extending Goita’s presidency until 2030, a recommendation condemned by opposition leaders and human rights organisations.
Human Rights Watch reported that several opposition figures, including Abba Alhassane and El Bachir Thiam, were arrested or abducted by unidentified men.
Goita initially seized power in August 2020 after a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests against the former civilian leadership. He launched a second coup in May 2021, removing the transitional civilian government.
The junta’s actions have been widely criticized, with Human Rights Watch reporting that Malian soldiers, alongside Russian Wagner Group fighters, “deliberately killed” at least 32 civilians and burned more than 100 homes in central and northern Mali.
