Mali's military junta, worried that about 40 political parties and civil society organisations in the country have shunned its national convention, Thursday postponed the dialogue.
According to a statement, issued by the National Committee for the recovery of democracy and restoration of the State (CNRDRE), the postponement was made “after consultation with the majority of stakeholders’’.
It claimed that the consultation was held Wednesday at a military academy in Kati, the headquarters of the junta that took power on 22 March in a military coup that toppled President Amadou Toumani Toure's administration.
The statement said a new date for the convention would be announced “by mutual agreement with all the stakeholders’’.
The junta said it called the national convention with a view to setting up bodies charged with managing the crisis in northern Mali where three major cities – Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu are now controlled by the Tuareg rebels.
The 40 parties, grouped under the United Front for Safeguarding Democracy and the Republic (FDR), and civil society organizations said they would not attend the meeting.
?
?
?
?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??