MALI: Kidal welcomes presidential campaign as administration slowly returns

Record ID: 346796

  • Title: MALI: Kidal welcomes presidential campaign as administration slowly returns
  • Date: 18th July 2013
  • Summary: KIDAL, MALI (JULY 15, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRIME MINISTER IBRAHIM BOUBACAR KEITA (IBK) COMING OUT OF PLANE VARIOUS OF KEITA BEING WELCOMED BY OFFICIALS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED TO WELCOME HIM SHOUTING "IBK, IBK MALI" KEITA SALUTING THE PEOPLE WHO CAME TO WELCOME HIM KEITA AND TRADITIONAL TUAREG CHIEF AND RELIGIOUS LEADER INTA
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mali
  • Country: Mali
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5J3QXZURNU969SAYM783643FN
  • Story Text: Former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita met with religious and Tuareg leaders in northern Mali on Monday (July 15), the first presidential candidate to go to northern Mali before the country goes to polls.
    The northern province of Kidal in northern Mali last week saw a civilian administration return, following a French intervention in January that chased Islamist rebels out of the country. The return of the administration was possible after a June ceasefire deal reached with Tuareg rebels who captured the remote desert region when Islamists fled.
    With just under two weeks to go until the election, interior ministry officials have said that 68 percent of Mali's 6.8 million registered voters have received their voting cards. However, that rate falls to just 20 percent in Kidal.
    Kidal has just 35,000 registered voters but has been the birthplace of successive uprisings by Tuaregs angry at its neglect by the southern government.
    "As part of our programme we will do everything so that Mali finds itself, and that Mali comes back together. The Malian social thread has been so damaged, for centuries our country has been a convivial place, a place of union, a place of true fraternity and solidarity. So we need to put it back together, God willing, we will do this," said Keita, after a visit that saw large crowds gathered to welcome him.
    In what is seen as an open race, 28 candidates are contesting the presidency. A run-off will take place on Aug. 11 if no one wins an outright majority in the first round.
    Pro-democracy groups have raised concerns that thousands of Malians displaced in camps in the landlocked country or in neighbouring West African states may not be able to vote.
    Tiebile Drame, a presidential hopeful and the government's chief negotiator in the ceasefire deal with the Tuaregs, has launched a court case to delay the vote, saying it would be illegal in current circumstances.
    But Mali's main parties have said they will accept the election results.
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