Members of the European Parliament welcomed outcome of the recent international conference on Mali during their discussions with the West African nation's Acting President Dioncounda Traore on Thursday, according to a press release.
Neverthless, members of the security and defense, foreign affairs and development committees highlighted the need to establish genuine democracy and decentralization in Mali, and stressed that the financial pledges must be linked to respect for the rule of law and human rights.
They also pressed the President to guarantee that perpetrators of crimes observed in Mali were properly pursued and that the funds promised by the international donors would really be used to help the people.
To ensure that democracy in Mali would not be a mere formality, MEPs demanded a genuine transfer of powers and resources to the regional and local authorities, while also emphasizing the importance of respecting Mali's territorial integrity.
In turn, President Traore said Mali was "very satisfied" with the EUR3.25 billion pledged by the international donors, of which EUR520 million were promised by the European Union for the country's development and reconstruction.
He said Mali had learned a great deal from its crisis, noting that if the "terrorists" had been able to gain ground in Mali it was "because there were problems and conditions" that allowed this, particularly regarding "governance and corruption" as well as a lack of education for young people and incomplete decentralization.
Traore said the current transition "must be as short as possible" and presidential elections must take place by the end of July, followed by parliamentary elections, to give the elected authorities the "legitimacy and the time needed" to carry out reforms.
In an effort to address the concerns of MEPs about the feasibility of holding free elections in the near future, given the large number of internally displaced people and refugees, Traore stressed that Malians would be able to vote "anywhere," in the presidential elections, including in the countries where they had taken refuge.
Stating that Mali is no longer facing the Tuareg insurgency problem, Traore told the European lawmakers that the "real aggressors" in Mali are currently "terrorists, Jihadists and drug traffickers."
The Malian President said he believed that dialogue was the only option available to the Malian authorities in order to solve the crisis in the north, and this included dialogue with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and other "Malian" factions.
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