Mali: Members of the M5-RFP movement demand the resignation of Prime Minister Choguel Maïga

In Mali, within the Mouvement du 5 juin-Rassemblement des forces patriotiques (M5-RFP), voices are being raised to demand the resignation of the head of government Choguel Maïga. He is accused of « deploying maneuvers to divide the members of the M5 ». On Saturday May 28, 2022, members of the movement expressed their dissatisfaction.  

He was appointed on June 7, 2021 by President Assimi Goïta. Choguel Maïga is a figure who does not allow himself to be pushed around when it comes to the international community, which has been at loggerheads with Mali since the military came to power. Fear is probably not part of the vocabulary of this 63-year-old telecommunications engineer, a native of Tabango, in the Gao region.

However, this member of the M5-RFP has been challenged for a few days within his own movement, where some are even calling for his resignation. “With Choguel it will be total despair. It will be the end of Mali on the map, which is why we invite him to think carefully. If he really is patriotic and loves this country, he just has to resign,” suggested Oumar Abou Touré, a member of the M5.

Choquel Maïga is also accused of acting badly within the movement to which he belongs. He destroyed the M5. The movement didn’t deserve that from him, because he gave it his all. It should do the same for the M5. But we have seen the opposite,” says Ousmane Doumbia, another member of M5.

Claiming to be forced to resign and suspended on April 7 by the clan of Prime Minister Choguel who currently holds the helm of the movement, the protesters say they do not allow « anyone to appropriate the M5 to make it a personal instrument ».

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These protesters believe that the Prime Minister of the Malian Transition constantly contests the decisions taken by the strategic committee of the M5-RFP and refuses to withdraw the complaint which had been lodged by the movement, with a view to requesting the cancellation of the appointment of the members of the National Transitional Council.

« We have asked several times to withdraw this complaint against the CNT, from the moment that we decided to take the prime minister’s office, » said Daba Diallo, member and spokesperson for the M5-RFP tendency. For him « the Prime Minister wants to maintain the pressure on the military through this complaint so that they keep him at the prime minister’s office ».

These members of the Strategic Committee, headed by Oumar Abou Touré, believe that Choguel Kokala Maïga since his appointment as prime minister has turned away from the objectives of the M5-RFP, in particular supporting the army in restoring security, breaking with the old practices of the management of the country, put in place milestones for the refoundation and the organization of free, credible and transparent elections.

The M5-RFP, it should be remembered, is the organization that precipitated the fall of the regime of the late Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Kéïta (IBK) in 2020.

Yaovi AGBEGNIGAN