Mali’s military government, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, officially dissolved all political parties on Tuesday, May 7, 2025, in a sweeping crackdown following recent anti-government protests and growing calls for a return to democratic rule.
The announcement was made in a televised statement to the nation and follows a string of opposition arrests and a decree suspending all political activities across the country.
“Down with dictatorship, long live democracy,” read placards at demonstrations held on May 3 and 4 — rare public defiance that appears to have prompted the regime’s harsh response.
The decision comes just weeks after a national dialogue in April proposed extending Goita’s rule until 2030, triggering outrage from civil society and human rights groups.
Opposition figures have reportedly faced disappearances, with Human Rights Watch confirming that masked gunmen arrested Abba Alhassane, Secretary-General of CODEM, on Thursday. On the same day, Yelema party leader El Bachir Thiam was allegedly abducted in Kati, and another CODEM youth leader, Abdoul Karim Traore, has gone missing.
“We fear he has been taken too,” said a party member who spoke anonymously to Reuters.
Goita first came to power in a 2020 military coup, citing failures by the civilian government to address jihadist violence from groups linked to ISIL and al-Qaeda.
The initial coup followed a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters that left at least 14 dead. Since then, Mali has deepened its military rule and severed many democratic checks, with rights groups accusing the regime and its allies—including Russian Wagner forces—of widespread abuses.
