Mali’s military government has suspended all political activities across the country “until further notice”.

Mali : The decree signed on Wednesday by transitional president, General Assimi Goita, cited “reasons of public order” and applies to both parties and organisations.

It was issued a few days after a rare pro-democracy rally and ahead of a planned protest on Friday against the junta which has ruled the country since coups in 2020 and 2021.

Hundreds of activists last weekend defied government threats and demonstrated in the capital, Bamako, against a bill recommending the dissolution of all political parties.

“I’m not surprised, I expected this because this is their way of preventing us from carrying out our activities, but we will continue to defend democracy in Mali,” said one of its leaders, Cheick Oumar Doumbia.

Civil society figures, political parties, and labour leaders have called for “a rapid and credible return to constitutional order through the organisation of transparent, inclusive, and peaceful elections.

The junta originally committed to holding elections in February 2022, but that timeline has been pushed back several times.

This is not the first time the military government has suspended the activities of political parties on the eve of important decisions.

In April 2024, it announced a suspension ahead of an “inter-Malian dialogue" that called for the transition period to be extended from two to five years.

Last year Mali formed a new partnership known as the Alliance of Sahel States, together with Burkina Faso and Niger, after military leaders in the three countries quit the West African bloc, ECOWAS.

Some analysts described it as an attempt to legitimise their military governments amid coup-related sanctions and strained relations with neighbours.

All three have cut ties with former colonial power, France, and are instead building partnerships with Russia.

For more than a decade, Mali has faced attacks by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organisation, and the threat has been growing.