Mali: is Imam Dicko becoming a new opposition figurehead?

Imam Mahmoud Dicko, August 11, 2020, during a protest rally against President IBK, in Bamako (Illustration image).

REUTERS/Rey Byhre

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Mali has experienced in recent days a series of political outings in the camp of Imam Mahmoud Dicko.

Some question the fact that Imam Mahmoud Dicko has - in fact - become the leader of the opposition.

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After participating in the fall of ex-president IBK in August 2020, Imam Mahmoud Dicko said he was returning to his mosque.

He is now more than ever back on the local political scene.

He was the first to speak at a recent forum in Bamako to

criticize the Malian junta

.

A few days later, his supporters gathered in Bamako and

went further

in criticism, declaring that “

Mali is at an impasse

”.

According to several sources, political formations, Malian associations would even be ready to set up with him " 

a monitoring structure

 ".

Its objectives would be to denounce " 

the excesses

 " of power, to bring together Malians in order to find appropriate solutions to " 

the multidimensional crisis

" that the country is going through.

A moral authority

The urgent thing

, explains someone close to the imam,

is to have a clear timetable for ending the crisis

”.

To achieve this, it is necessary that "

the current leaders stop being arrogant

" and that the international community is more understanding, assures this relative.

So will Mahmoud Dicko become the figurehead of the Malian opposition?

At first, as at the time of the M5 (the protest movement against the IBK regime), he would accept, according to his relatives, to be the moral authority of this coalition.

For the rest, "

we'll see 

", they say.

One of the strengths of the imam is to be able to mobilize crowds.

In the press release published after their meeting on Saturday May 28, his supporters ask everyone to wait for his "

watchword

".

To read also: Coup attempt foiled in Mali: total vagueness on the legal procedure

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