Mali aiming to hold elections this July

Mali is hoping to organize elections on July 31 this year. Mali’s interim President made this revelation while attending the recent African Union summit in Ethiopia.

The election timetable is subject to many things, top being the outcome of the joint military assault against separatist al-Qaeda linked militants in the north of the country.

The parliament in Mali prefers an exhaustive debate of the political roadmap for the transition before the elections are called. All political parties have demanded meetings with the government to clarify on the political calendar.

Opposition member of parliament, Kassoum Tapo, has suggested that the government wait until 2014 to organize the elections. But the African Union and United Nations both appear to be working on a more urgent timetable.

The question of negotiations with the northern militants is another pending matter.

It has been reported that there has been a split in their ranks when the Islamic Movement of Azawad (MIA) broke away from the hardline Ansar Dine group. Together with the Tuareg-dominated National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the MIA is now campaigning to hold direct peace talks with the Mali government.

The African Union and other partners are encouraging such negotiations as long as they keep out the hard core Ansar Dine, which regarded as a terror group as a result of their affiliation to al-Qaeda.