The triumphant return which supporters of Imam Mahmoud Dicko wanted to give their leader back from the Holy Places of Islam on Saturday, January 14, did not go as planned.Imam Dicko stayed in Islam’s holy land where he was officially appointed as a permanent member of the World Islamic League (WIL), an NGO based in Mecca and composed of all Muslim countries. 

It is an organization that advocates friendship and solidarity between peoples.

Through this nomination, considered as a consecration for his career in the service of religion, Imam Dicko also became a member of the Board of Ulemas of the MIL; a crowning achievement that he dedicated to all the leaders as well as to the entire Muslim community of Mali.

It is for this reason that his supporters gathered at the Bamako airport to give him a hero’s welcome. 

But this was marred by an impressive security presence which confronted his supporters. 

For the moment, the reasons for the crackdown are not known, but it has already been condemned by many voices in Mali, including those of political leaders. 

Several of them have even visited him at his home to express their support.

At loggerheads with the junta

The undisputed leader of the citizens’ movement that precipitated the overthrow of the former regime in August 2020, Imam Dicko had distanced himself from the transitional authorities since May 2021, corresponding to the second part of the transition, during which many of his close associates appointed during the first phase led by President Bah Ndaw were dismissed.

As proof of this difference between the Transition authorities and Imam Dicko, recently his supporters did not hesitate to disavow and mark their rejection of all initiatives taken by the government. 

The latest example is the recent outburst by his supporters grouped under the ‘Coordination des Mouvements, Associations et Sympathisants de Mahmoud Dicko’ (CMAS) calling on the authorities to abandon the drafting of a new constitution to replace the one in force since February 25, 1992.