Mali: the CNT adopts the bill on the militarization of the police

Malian police in Bamako (illustrative image) REUTERS / Joe Penney

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The National Transitional Council (CNT) approved this Thursday, October 20 in Bamako, the militarization of the police and civil protection.

The councilors of the Transitional Parliament voted in favor of the bill unanimously (111 votes for, 0 against and 0 abstentions).

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With our correspondent in the region,

Serge Daniel

After nearly three hours of debate, not a single voice present at the meeting of the National Transitional Council voted against the bill on the militarization of the police and civil protection.

From the promulgation of the new law, the now members of this new body of the national army, will store their current outfits in the drawer, to wear the traditional trellis of the army. 

The police will now go, according to the validated text, on the ground in order to carry out new missions: the security of the populations and their property, but also to ensure the security and the return of the Malian administration in many localities of the interior of Mali that she has deserted. 

Even if the terms and conditions of their integration into the army will be the subject of a rereading of the texts currently in force, we already know that this new corps of the "great mute" will also be deployed in the field to, for example, cover the rear of the defense forces engaged in combat in the context of the fight against terrorism.

And to motivate them, they will enjoy the same benefits as their other military comrades. 

Shortly before the vote on the bill by the CNT, a platform which brings together a dozen police trade union organizations, in a press release, deplored “

a project carried out unilaterally

” by the government.

 To read also: Mali: the Transitional Council examines the project of militarization of the police

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