Situation in Mali - Report of the Secretary-General (S/2023/236)

I. Introduction

1. By its resolution 2640 (2022) of 29 June 2022, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) until 30 June 2023 and requested the Secretary-General to report to the Council every three months on the implementation of the resolution. The present report covers developments since the previous report (S/2023/21), issued on 6 January 2023.

2. Throughout the report, focus is given to the four parameters for mandate implementation, as presented in the report of the Secretary-General on the internal review of MINUSMA (S/2023/36). These parameters are (a) advances in the political transition, in accordance with the electoral timetable issued by the transitional authorities; (b) progress in the implementation of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali; (c) freedom of movement, including for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets critical for the safety and security of peacekeepers; and (d) the ability to implement the entirety of the Security Council mandate, including its human rights provisions.

II. Major political developments

1. The reporting period was marked by further advances in the transition process, continued impasse in the implementation of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali (the peace agreement), and the formal launch of the Government’s strategy for the stabilization of the central regions.

A. Political transition

1. On 27 January, the transitional President, Colonel Assimi Goïta, nominated 72 people, including 15 women (representing 20.83 per cent of the nominees) to sit on the Commission that he had established by decree on 19 December 2022 to review and finalize the draft constitution. The Commission includes members of the transitional authorities and other institutions, former government officials and representatives of trade unions, political parties and civil society. On 27 February, following its deliberations, the Commission submitted the revised draft constitution and its end-of-mission report to the transitional President. On 20 March, the transitional President presented the draft constitution to political stakeholders, the Forces vives de la nation, including representatives of political parties, civil society and signatory armed groups, and traditional leaders. Furthermore, he called on all stakeholders to contribute to the popularization of the draft constitution.

2. Key provisions of the new text include the possibility of impeachment of the president in case of treason; the prohibition of changes to political party membership as applies to members of the Parliament, that is to say, if members resign from their party, they automatically lose their membership in Parliament and joining another political party is considered a resignation; the possibility for citizens to bring matters before the Supreme Council of Magistrates and the Constitutional Court; the principle of good governance; secularism; affirmation of the fight against corruption; and the granting of official status to national languages while French is now defined as a working language; and general mobilization of citizens in case of need. The revised draft constitution also refers to elements contained in the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, including the establishment of a bicameral legislature, as well as the recognition of the role of traditional authorities and alternative and traditional modes of dispute settlement.

3. In the lead-up to the finalization of the draft constitution, on 27 January, the Coordination des mouvements de l’Azawad (CMA), which had initially agreed to participate in the constitutional review process, reversed its decision, invoking the impasse in the peace process. Moreover, on 28 January, the Coordination des mouvements, associations et sympathisants de l’Imam Mahmoud Dicko (CMAS) and the Convergence pour le développement du Mali (CODEM) issued statements in opposition to the constitutional review. Meanwhile, on 2 February, the Cadre de partis et regroupements politiques pour le retour à l’ordre constitutionnel, which participated in the work of the Commission, pleaded for a minimal revision of the current Constitution rather than for its complete overhaul.

4. Following the handover of the draft constitution to the transitional President on 27 February, other stakeholders made pronouncements. On 2 March, the Ligue islamique des Imams du Mali issued a statement rejecting secularism as a defining character of the Malian State. On 4 March, the Parti pour la renaissance nationale indicated that it deplored the excessive concentration of power in the presidency envisaged in the draft constitution and the lack of national consensus underlying the process. Meanwhile, the Union nationale des travailleurs du Mali and other sociopolitical movements expressed full support for the draft.

5. On 10 March, the transitional authorities announced the postponement of the Constitutional referendum until further notice, indicating that the postponement arose from their desire to implement the recommendations of the Assises nationales de la refondation, notably the full operationalization of the Autorité indépendante de gestion des élections (AIGE), including the establishment of its regional chapters as well as the popularization of the constitutional reform project. The new date will be communicated after consultations with AIGE and relevant stakeholders.

6. The transitional authorities took steps to facilitate the holding of elections. On 10 January, the transitional President installed the 15 members of AIGE, including four women (representing 26.6 per cent of the membership of the Commission). Subsequently, AIGE worked towards the establishment of its local chapters, including the recruitment of about 3,000 staff. Moreover, on 14 March, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization consulted with relevant stakeholders on the modalities for the nomination of representatives of the authorities to the coordination branches of AIGE.

7. MINUSMA recruited 182 electoral agents, including 56 women (representing 30.77 per cent of the total number of electoral agents), who were trained from 6 t o 10 February ahead of their deployment across the country. A joint AIGE-MINUSMA working group was established to coordinate issues related to technical and logistic support for the elections. Furthermore, the United Nations Integrated Electoral Team, comprising MINUSMA, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), provided technical assistance, information technology-related equipment and vehicles worth $2 million to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization and the Constitutional Court. Capacity-building support for 16 civil society organizations on voter outreach, prevention of election-related violence and the promotion of gender in electoral processes is ongoing. Concurrently, women situation rooms were established in the regions of Kayes, Ségou, Sikasso, and Koulikoro to enhance their participation in elections.

8. On 28 February, the National Transition Council adopted amendments to the June 2022 electoral law. The amendments had been proposed by the Government following the consultations of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization with political parties and civil society organizations held on 12 January. More specifically, the Government proposed that the elections be held three months after the AIGE coordination offices were set up; that early voting be allowed for the Malian Defence and Security Forces to enable them to carry out their mission of securing polling centres on election day; that voting arrangements be specified for internally displaced persons; that a secure biometric national identity card be introduced as a voter’s card; and that an update of the electoral register be provided for in line with the six laws on territorial and administrative reorganization, which had been adopted on 19 October 2022 (S/2023/21, para. 8) and enacted on 13 March 2023.

9. The laws provide for the enacting of 19 regions, 168 cercles, 472 arrondissements and 859 communes and the district of Bamako. The laws also provide for, inter alia, the creation of deconcentrated administrative constituencies (regions, cercles and arrondissements) throughout the country and the demarcation of administrative boundaries for the new regions of Kita, Dioïla, Nara, Bougouni,
   Koutiala, San, Douentza and Bandiagara.

10. Against this backdrop, new dynamics were witnessed in the politic al landscape. On 5 January, the Speaker of the National Assembly at the time of the August 2020 coup, Moussa Timbiné, resigned from the Rassemblement pour le Mali and created a new political movement called Convergence 2023. On 28 January, the President of the Union pour la République et la démocratie, Gouagnon Coulibaly, announced the formation of a political platform called Coalition pour un nouveau Mali. On 28 January, the former Minister of Agriculture, Moulaye Ahmed Boubacar, launched a new political party, the Parti malien du travail et de la refondation. On 20 February, 12 entities including Espérance Nouvelle Jigiya Kura, which is headed by the former Minister of Sports and President of CODEM, Housseini Amion Guindo, and CMAS, announced the creation of a coalition known as la Coordination des organisations de l’appel du 20 février 2023 pour sauver le Mali.

11. Meetings of the Cadre de partis et regroupements politiques pour le retour à l’ordre constitutionnel and Espérance Nouvelle Jigiya Kura, originally planned to be held on 4 and 25 February, respectively, were not authorized by the transitional authorities, reportedly for security reasons. On 20 February, unidentified individuals disrupted a meeting of the Appel citoyen pour la réussite de la transition at the Maison de la Presse and ransacked the venue. Condemning this act as a violation of freedom of expression, some parties called on the transitional authorities to initiate an investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice. The National Human Rights Commission reiterated the State’s obligation to promote the respect of fundamental human rights and liberties, while urging the media and population to refrain from inciting hate and violence.

12. As part of the follow-up to the recommendations of the Assises nationales de la refondation on the reform process, on 7 and 8 February, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, with the assistance of MINUSMA, organized a workshop for central and regional public administration and local government representatives for endorsement of the national political framework for territorial administration prior to its submission to the Council of Ministers. Similarly, the United Nations Integrated Electoral Team supported the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization and the Ministry for the Promotion of Women,
    Children and Family in the holding of a high-level seminar for the development of a road map on gender mainstreaming across political and institutional reforms in Bamako from 28 February to 4 March.

13. On 18 February, the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convened an Extraordinary Summit on the margins of the Thirty-sixth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, to examine, inter alia, the ongoing transitions in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali. In the final communiqué, 1 the Authority decided to maintain existing sanctions on all three countries and to impose travel bans on members of Government and other senior officials in all three countries. The decision was taken in response to the joint request submitted by the three countries on 9 February for the lifting of sanctions and other restrictions imposed by the African Union and ECOWAS.

14. From 20 to 22 February, the ECOWAS Mediator and former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, visited Mali to assess progress in the transition. He met with the local follow-up committee and, together with its members, held consultations with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Commission for the Monitoring of the Timetable for Political and Institutional Reforms and the transitional President. The Mediator briefly addressed political parties and civil society actors during a session chaired by the Minister for Territorial Administration and Decentralization. The transitional authorities briefed the Mediator on progress made since July 2022, while acknowledging that some critical activities had experienced delays, including AIGE operationalization at the local level and the constitutional process. The Mediator welcomed the progress made and urged the authorities to stay the course so as to ensure the restoration of constitutional rule by March 2024, as agreed with ECOWAS.