There is an ongoing strife in Mali that has made international airwaves due to the threat it poses, not only to life and property, but also to the foundational state systems that have painfully been built over the past two decades.

After Mali’s difficult transition to multiparty democracy in the 1990s and the 2012 coup d’etat, the situation in Mali has arguably been a delicate one, and today, it is on the brink of yet another chaotic political instability.

Africanews online reported that on July 12th 2020, protestors in Mali ransacked government buildings targeting ruling-party members. This was the dreadful highlight event that culminated from tensions between the opposition movement, claiming the lives of several persons during demonstrations days before.

News reports attribute the predicament to the dissatisfaction of economic conditions in Mali and perceptions by civil groups of the unsatisfactory government leadership particularly in dealing with jihadist groups.

Nonetheless, the current situation has taken a new dimension after ECOWAS mission led by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan reported an unsuccessful attempt to find common grounds between the opposition movement and government, to break the deadlock spurring violent clashes and destructive protesting in Mali.

Unfortunately, the M5-RFP group who are leading the protests have indicated plans to resume hostilities in the coming days, in their desire to force the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

It is on this basis that I make this urgent call to the African Union and the United Nations to quickly coordinate with each other and step in to first and foremost support local efforts to safeguard the lives of the general civil society in Mali.

The international community cannot sign off on this development when lives are in danger and the Malian state is also in danger of being run down. The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) that operates a station in Timbuktu can coordinate with local security to prevent and minimize any form of damage associated with such political unrests.

The AU and the UN should also expedite a strategy that will allow for mobilization of a new envoy with improved proposals, building on the lessons from the inefficacious ECOWAS mission.

The AU/UN effort should be a joint team and it is critical to understand that the mediation action should not be viewed as one of choice and it must be undertaken otherwise the entire West Africa region may be affected if there is instability in Mali as we know that Mali is an important trade route connecting the West African sub region to the North.

We cannot allow the terrorist groups to take the opportunity to intensify their activities and also increase their presence in the sub region in the midst of the instability in Mali, rolling back any progress of the MINUSMA operation.

I am convinced that the devoted intent of our international organizations through the resourcefulness of additional peace mission officials and personnel will bring about concrete solutions to end the political turmoil. Yet still, this is highly dependent on the ability to act swiftly to arrest the situation in Mali before any significant collapse. The AU and UN should send a joint team to collaborate with ECOWAS in the effort of mediation to resolve the conflict.

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The writer, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, is the M.P. Nsawam Adoagyiri and
Chairman of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.