Malian group asks Supreme Court to annul junta's ban on political activities

BAMAKO (Reuters) - The Malian Supreme Court should annul the ruling junta's order to suspend political activities, a group of Malian political parties and civil society organisations said in an appeal on Monday.

The West African country has been under military rule since a coup in 2020. Tensions have risen in recent weeks over the authorities' failure to organise promised elections and their subsequent decree that limits political life in the name of maintaining public order.

The allied political and civil society groups opposed to the April 10 order said they had turned jointly to Mali's top court "with the aim of annulling the decree which they consider tyrannical and oppressive," they said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear when the court might consider the appeal.

Mali's current junta seized power in a second coup in 2021 and later promised to restore civilian rule by March 2024 following elections in February of this year.

However, the authorities said last September they would indefinitely postpone the February elections for technical reasons, deepening concerns about democratic backsliding in West and Central Africa, where there have been eight coups over the past four years.

"We are witnessing the restriction of civic space and an attempt to seize power", said Drissa Traore, Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

With the decree, "the Malian authorities are once again confirming their desire to stifle any dissenting voice and to lead Mali into an unprecedented dictatorial regime", he said in a statement on Friday.

(Reporting by Fadima Kontao; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Josie Kao)