In Mali, the transitional government seeks to reassure. The state of emergency has been in force in the country since Saturday morning, with health measures to counter the spread of Covid-19, but ...

Mali: the government ensures that it does not want to call into question public freedoms

Malian Prime Minister Moctar Ouane (archive image).

AP Photo / Frank Franklin II, File

Text by: David Baché

4 min

In Mali, the transitional government seeks to reassure.

The state of emergency has been in force in the country since Saturday morning, with health measures to counter the spread of Covid-19, but also security provisions, due to the fight against the terrorist threat.

Many voices have been raised against provisions deemed to be liberticidal.

The authorities issued a statement on Sunday, in the form of an update, to respond to these concerns.

Publicity

“

The instruction relating to the state of emergency in no way aims to call into question any freedom whatsoever, it is not intended to prescribe new measures and only reminds the provisions of laws and regulations.

The Ministry of Territorial Administration is trying to calm concerns about the instructions given Friday to governors, prefects and sub-prefects of Mali, reminding them of the battery of legal and regulatory tools available to them within the framework of the state of 'emergency.

Control of the media and social networks, the possibility of limiting movement or even locking up without a court decision anyone who opposes the action of the public authorities, these instructions have given rise to worried or even outraged reactions among journalists' organizations or defense of human rights.

► To read also: Mali: public freedoms restricted by the state of emergency

But the possibilities do not say the intentions, explain today, in essence, the authorities.

And this is also what other actors in the Malian political scene think.

These are measures that are in the texts

", abounds the former Prime Minister Moussa Mara, who did not support the military coup and who is today a vigilant accompanist of the transition.

The minister made the mistake of recalling them in his instruction when they do not need to be, but there is no desire to tighten the screw,

" said Moussa Mara.

An opinion shared by the lawyer and former Minister of Justice, Maître Mamadou Ismaïla Konaté, a fine connoisseur of Malian law and informed observer of Malian political life, who recalls that these legal provisions are not new, and calls on both sides others to “not add fuel to the fire” unnecessarily: “

The law on the state of emergency dates from 2015, revised in 2017, and until today, the implementation takes place in the same framework and in the same context, except that this time, the state of emergency takes into account, in addition to the safety of people and goods, health security.
This is the novelty.
I can understand the concern of journalists and press men, but there is no space for restrictions on freedoms other than preserving health and preserving the general interest.
People are surprised today that there is a restriction on freedoms.
But we are in a country where we are dealing with healers, and where free radios give access to these healers who often have the opportunity to say "the covid does not exist" or "here is the remedy".
So the instructions (given to the representatives of the State relating to the state of emergency, editor's note) facilitate the implementation of the law.
There is no fire when it comes to public freedoms.
Anyone who stood up against these freedoms and rights would find all Malians facing him.

Mali: the government ensures that it does not want to call into question public freedoms

Mali: the government ensures that it does not want to call into question public freedoms

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