{"id":4966,"date":"2017-08-30T16:37:04","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T16:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/?p=4966"},"modified":"2017-08-30T16:37:04","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T16:37:04","slug":"malis-suspended-constitutional-review-provides-vital-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/malis-suspended-constitutional-review-provides-vital-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Mali\u2019s suspended constitutional review provides vital lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Without popular support, implementing Mali\u2019s peace agreement and reforms won\u2019t bring stability.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 18 August, Mali\u2019s President\u00a0Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta decided to suspend the referendum\u00a0procedure to revise Mali\u2019s constitution.\u00a0His decision was taken under pressure from various political and civil society groups rallied under the platform Ant\u00e8 Abana, which means \u2018We do not want, it\u2019s over\u2019 in the local Bambara language.<\/p>\n

The decision was taken in a tense atmosphere following weeks of disagreement between supporters of and opponents to constitutional reform. It also comes at a time when national reconciliation and unity remain fragile in a country that has been experiencing a security and political crisis since 2012.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s main reasons for this constitutional reform include the need to draw lessons from the 2012 security crisis, to correct the weaknesses revealed during the application of the constitution, and to take into consideration the reforms stipulated in the June 2015 peace agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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National reconciliation remains fragile in a country that\u2019s seen political crisis since 2012<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For Ant\u00e8 Abana, however, the proposed revision \u2013 in addition to considerably increasing the powers of the president \u2013 violates article 118 of the 1992 constitution which proscribes all constitutional reviews that violate Mali\u2019s territorial integrity.\u00a0According to the platform, state absence in the region of Kidal and in certain central localities constitutes a threat to the country\u2019s territorial integrity.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s decision, in the short term, will ease tensions in the society.\u00a0But the debate around the constitutional revision has revealed deeper social dynamics that the Malian authorities and their partners should pay attention to.\u00a0Three dimensions in particular should be examined.<\/p>\n

First, the issue illustrates the gap between popular expectations and the actions of political leaders.\u00a0The installation of the Malian Parliament after the December 2013 legislative election marked a crucial crisis resolution step in Mali. The expectation<\/a> was that Parliament would play a more decisive role in the legislative process. Parliament was therefore eagerly expected to implement the reforms.<\/p>\n

However, before the president\u2019s decision, Parliament had already on 3 June adopted the draft of the revision of the constitution by 111 votes in favour and 35 against. The National Assembly, even though it said it had consulted the public, had not been able to measure popular reluctance and reservations regarding the constitutional revision. This highlights the disconnect between the institution\u2019s stance and popular expectations.<\/p>\n

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The debate around the constitutional reform shows that deep social tensions still exist in Mali<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Second, the polarisation of national public opinion for and against the constitutional revision created a palpable tension between Malians.\u00a0To appease the situation, traditional and religious leaders played a significant role as a social shock absorber through mediations that resulted in the suspension of the revision project.<\/p>\n

The role of these informal authorities would have gone unnoticed if, during the debate on the revision, there had been no mention of their participation in the governance process.\u00a0It is important to question the consequences of institutionalising the role of these leaders in the political domain.<\/p>\n

Third, despite being presented by the president and the government as a \u2018requirement\u2019 of the peace agreement, the constitutional revision continues to cause popular protests.\u00a0An example is the demonstrations in Gao in July 2016 against establishing the interim authorities as stipulated in the peace agreement. The protests were violently repressed by the government.<\/p>\n

In the wake of these events, the president declared that \u2018these regrettable incidents (were) a clear illustration of a misunderstanding of the content of the peace and national reconciliation agreement\u2019.\u00a0This observation shows that although there was very little protest at the time it was signed, the implementation of the peace agreement leaves many Malians uncomfortable.\u00a0It also highlights the importance of explaining the peace agreement to the public.<\/p>\n

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Traditional and religious leaders helped ease social tensions through a series of mediations<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the meantime, the government and its partners must take the necessary steps to implement the pending legislative reforms as they await the much-needed constitutional revision, whose necessity goes beyond the \u2018requirements\u2019 of the peace agreement.<\/p>\n

Limitations of the peace process \u2013 in particular the absence of popular support for its implementation \u2013 have been highlighted by various factors. These include the absence of a new date to restart the process of constitutional revision, the divide between the ruling party and the opposition, and the rifts between supporters and opponents of the reform.<\/p>\n

The importance of implementing the peace agreement and the resulting reforms cannot be overstated. However without popular support these steps won\u2019t have the expected stabilising effect. To ensure national ownership, the Malian authorities and their partners engaged in the peace process must involve all the relevant stakeholders in the various proposed measures, from the inception phases.<\/p>\n

Baba Dakono, Researcher,\u00a0ISS Dakar <\/strong><\/p>\n

This article was first published on the website of Institute for security studies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Without popular support, implementing Mali\u2019s peace agreement and reforms won\u2019t bring stability. On 18 August, Mali\u2019s President\u00a0Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta decided to suspend the referendum\u00a0procedure to revise Mali\u2019s constitution.\u00a0His decision was taken under pressure from various political and civil society groups rallied under the platform Ant\u00e8 Abana, which means \u2018We do not want, it\u2019s over\u2019 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4967,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966\/revisions\/4967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}