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” The international community is in its pride, we are in our arrogance and the Malian people are dying. At the Bamako forum, one of the most important colloquia in Africa, Imam Dicko returns to the front of the stage and he speaks incisively.
To the theme of the meeting “Women, peace and security in Africa”, the religious reacts, microphone in hand: “ What peace are we talking about? What security are we talking about? In this situation where, […] the Malian people are slowly dying? In front of a whole audience of guests, Mahmoud Dicko does not pretend to address his criticisms to the ruling junta and the international community, responsible according to him for the decline of his country.
What I know how to do best is make people pray. Imam Mahmoud Dicko
Rigorous Islam
Before entering the political sphere, Imam Dicko was first and foremost a religious and popular figure in Mali. For 40 years, he has officiated at the mosque in the Badalabougou district of Bamako. Frequently, political representatives come to visit him. The day after the coup, the putschist soldiers came to greet him in person.
” What I know how to do best is make people pray “He retorts, however, to our colleagues France 24 in 2020 when he is asked about any political ambition.
Coming from a family of notables, Mahmoud Dicko received his religious training in Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabism, a conservative Islam which wants to be close to the origins of the religion, is practiced at 98%. If he denies claiming to be a rigorous Islam, the imam made himself known to the general public by working in 2009 to block a reform of the family code which provided, among other things, for more rights for women in Mali. His position will give him some credit in a 95% Muslim country.
For more than 10 years, he chaired the High Islamic Council of Mali (HCIM), a structure for dialogue between the authorities and the heads of religious organizations. This responsibility will predestine him to a role of importance at the national level.
Ally turned adversary
In the summer of 2013, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta’s campaign for the presidency of Mali was in full swing. If he never said it openly, Imam Dicko supports the candidacy of the former Prime Minister of Mali. History will show, however, that his support will not last.
IBK’s tenure was marked by a rise in jihadism which significantly degraded the national security situation. The president was then heavily criticized for his inability to bring peace to a country most of which was deprived of public services or schools and where the political class was considered largely corrupt.
In 2020, the gronde is increasingly taking over the streets of Bamako. A motley coalition of religious leaders, politicians and members of civil society, the “M5-RFP” (“June 5 Movement – Rally of Patriotic Forces”) formed and took the lead in the protest.
If he will never be a member, Mahmoud Dicko becomes the tutelary figure of the protest. Live on national television, he denounces the impotence of power in the face of insecurity and economic stagnation and calls for a transition in the hands of civilians. Calls to demonstrate from the M5-RFP follow one another and the anger is growing.
On July 10, 2020, a rally near the Imam Dicko mosque degenerated. At least a dozen people were killed there and about forty were injured. An event that will be worth the imam to distance himself after the coup, announcing to return ” at the mosque “. ” I am an imam and I will remain an imam he could add.
I cannot be silent about the current management of the country, I was an actor of change, people died in front of my door and in front of my mosque. Imam Mahmoud Dicko
“I can’t be silent”
In the ranks of the “M5-RFP”, are then the filmmaker past in politics Cheick Oumar Sissoko, the lawyer Mohamed Ali Bathily, the ex-governor of Bamako Sy Kadiatou Sow, but also three pure politicians such as Mountaga Tall, Modibo Sidibé and… a certain Choguel Maïga. The two men are close, the imam sees in Maïga ” a very intelligent politician “. The latter will be installed Prime Minister by the junta in June 2021.
In November 2021, while Choguel Maïga carried with conviction the holding of the National Conference for Refoundation, he was shunned by many parties and organizations in Mali, including the association for the support of Imam Mahmoud Dicko.
They denounce having been excluded from the consultations and accuse the authorities of ” clanism ». If the imam made it clear that he was not calling for demonstrations or overthrowing the current power, members of the M5 are demanding the resignation of Choguel Maïga from the post of Prime Minister. After months of demanding more democracy in the streets, Mali is once again facing a seized up political machine that is struggling to regain its footing.
A situation that will be worth the imam to speak on occasion during a press conference at the end of November 2021: “ I cannot be silent about the current management of the country, I was an actor of change, people died in front of my door and in front of my mosque. I can’t stay out of the suite, did he declare. We don’t get along with each other, we’re not with the rest of the world. We have to join hands otherwise the country is not on the right track “.
The fearless imam
Since then, the putschists in power have canceled the holding of elections and the ECOWAS sanctions have driven up the price of foodstuffs in Mali. Relations with its neighbors have deteriorated. The authorities also announced that they could not pay a payment of 2.6 billion CFA francs on the regional financial market.
At the Bamako forum, this May 25, 2022, it is however a disillusioned Mahmoud Dicko who speaks, far from the one who carried the crowds by his speeches of revolt in the summer of 2020. We are facing a total stalemate today in this country he says resolutely. He willingly admits that he is not afraid of being arrested at the exit, after publicly scolding ” arrogance “of a” moribund political class “.
After seeing the revolts of 2020 instigated, the word of the imam is not without weight. Would he be the only one today able to stand up to Colonel Goïta’s junta?
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