The transitional military government in Mali has suspended the work of political parties in the West African crisis state with immediate effect.
The measure was suspended "for reasons of public order ... until the reorganization of the entire country," the military government announced by decree late on Wednesday.
Almost two weeks earlier, a coalition of opposition parties and civil society organizations had called for democratic elections and threatened to take legal action.
The transitional military government led by Colonel Assimi Goïta, which seized power almost three years ago, had announced a transitional phase of a further 24 months in March 2022, 10 months after the coup d'état.
However, in September 2023, the military postponed a presidential election scheduled for February 2024 "for technical reasons" without naming a new date.
Since the coup, the Malian army has systematically turned its back on former European partners such as ex-colonial power France and allied itself with Russian mercenaries instead.
At the end of 2023, the UN stabilization mission Minusma, in which the German Armed Forces were also involved, ended its work in the crisis-ridden Sahel state with 23 million inhabitants after 10 years under pressure from the military government.
The security situation in Mali has been deteriorating ever since: Islamist terrorist groups, some of which are allied with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State terrorist militia, are spreading in Mali and neighbouring countries. A conflict between the state and separatist Tuareg rebels is also threatening to break out again.