The composition of the Transitional National Council is now known in Mali. The last transitional body, with a legislative function, was eagerly awaited. The Malian authorities published the list of its 121 members on Thursday night. It is a list that plays openness, but which is actually very unclear.
It is transparent too the 121 people which have been assigned places are quoted specifically. But it remains unclear because none of these names indicate which group it belongs to. So it is impossible to say whether the distribution – between parties, trade unions, soldiers, etc. – which had been fixed by the authorities and which was already much disputed was respected.
The representatives of the security forces would be 22, but no rank or body is listed. After all, a name is obvious, that of Malick Diaw, Colonel, Vice President of the junta who took power in August last year and who is expected to chair the Council after a vote of 121 members, but for the other soldiers, it is difficult to identify them.
Then we recognize the names of the leaders of the armed groups that signed the peace agreement in 2015, journalists, human rights defenders, relatives of Imam Mahmoud Dicko, but there are a lot of names that we do not know, and that we do not know who they represent. Not to mention the names we think we recognize: Salif Keita, for example, is it really the world-famous singer or a name?
Non-candidates selected
It also has people who belong to political groups whose line was clear: they refused to sit in this council. We are thinking, for example, of Mamadou Diarassouba, of the RPM, the party of former President IBK. Finally, on Friday morning, he confirmed that he really chose to sit on the CNT, as a “patriot,” he said, to contribute to the transition. An executive director of his party still explains that it is an individual choice that does not commit RPM in any way.
There is especially M5-RFP. The coalition, which believes that Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and after the military political transition has been robbed, refuses to send representatives to the transitional council. However, several of its members are on the list. There are two executives in particular in its strategic committee: Imam Oumarou Diarra, former CMAS for Imam Dicko who chose to follow the line of the leaders of the M5-RFP, and the Hamadoun Amion Guindo union from the Mali trade union, component of the M5. Have they been swept away?
From Thursday night, Imam Diarra reacted on Twitter and claimed that he had not submitted a file and stayed on the M5. As for Hamadoun Amion Guindo, he assures that he has not submitted an application in his own name and he wonders: “At the moment, I really have no explanation. I have not seen the list yet. And it is since yesterday that I have received enough congratulations for this appointment. I know that it is a priori not a candidacy or M5 even less of the Trade Union of Mali workers. ”
The possibility that Hamadou Amion Guindo is still on the board therefore remains open: “At the moment, I have to talk to the executive committee. I do not rule it out at all. It depends entirely on the discussions I will have with my national executive committee. If I wanted to, I would have gone personally or perhaps the Executive Committee had deposited in my name. ”
As for Choguel Maïga, one of the leaders and spokesman for the M5-RFP, he condemns outright “irregularities”. According to him, appointing persons who have not submitted a file, according to the conditions laid down by decree three weeks ago, constitutes a “violation of the rules” which “invalidates everything”.
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