On March 13, the Council of Ministers dissolved this important organization of the school and university world. At the start of the week, around ten AEEM students had already been arrested by Mali's intelligence services.
Two other students, initially also announced under arrest, now live in hiding. Some of the students called for the rally to celebrate Martyrs' Day and also to protest against the dissolution of this powerful organization which was at the forefront of the fight in 1991 for the fall of the one-party regime.