Mali’s ruling Junta cancels Independence Day Festivities

Mali’s ruling junta has canceled scheduled independence celebrations and is considering mobilising reservists in the wake of escalating tensions in the country’s North.

In a speech to the nation on Thursday, the junta’s leader, Assimi Gota, informed the people that defense and security troops would be “re-deployed throughout the country.”

He added: “After ten years of the presence of foreign forces on our soil, we understood that the logic was rather to maintain insecurity and keep us dependent. This is the fundamental reason why the Malian people have decided to take their security into their own hands.”

The Malian military are counting on Russia’s help to re-establish their sovereignty, even though vast stretches of land remain outside their control.

Assimi Goita took advantage of his speech to express his gratitude to Russia: “I would like, on this occasion, to salute Mali’s sincere partners, in particular the Russian Federation, whose efforts and support have been extremely useful to us in preserving our sovereignty in a national, regional and international context marked by multi-faceted tensions against a backdrop of divergent views”.

After months of conflict with the government, Tuareg-dominated militias began operations against the Malian army in the north in September. They had signed a peace treaty with the central government in 2015, which was expected to put a stop to the conflicts started by the 2012 independence and Salafist insurgencies.