That could stabilise the regime's position allowing its Alliance des États du Sahel (AES) partnership with Burkina Faso and Niger to emerge toughened from a testing period and justifying its ongoing rejection of calls for talks from the opposition Coalition des Forces pour la République (CFR) led by exiled imam Mahmoud Dicko...

' At the fifth African Conference for Peace in Nouakchott in January 2025 imam Mahmoud Dicko in his trademark white shawl renewed his push for Sharia in Muslim‑majority African states...

Sharia law while certainly not universally welcomed could be introduced into this staunchly conservative society through negotiations that may involve the influential imam Mahmoud Dicko who shares Ag Ghali's agenda...

A key figure in any post-crisis reckoning is likely to be Imam Mahmoud Dicko exiled in Algeria and now aligned with civilian politicians...

In December prominent individuals headed by the charismatic imam Mahmoud Dicko launched a new opposition movement the Coalition des forces pour la République (CFR) which questions the junta's legitimacy and calls for the restoration of constitutional order and a national dialogue that would include armed groups such as the secular northern Tuareg nationalist Front de libération de l'Azawad (FLA) and the jihadist Jama'at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM)...

Exiled in Algiers Imam Mahmoud Dicko – the regime's most charismatic opponent – has deepened government mistrust of Mali's northern neighbour already accused of sheltering jihadist and separatist fighters near its Saharan border...

In Bamako the authorities are on alert particularly against any fresh moves by Mahmoud Dicko an influential imam (AC Vol 65 no 3 Juntas in shock split from Ecowas)...

The ruckus comes against the backdrop of civil unrest at the electricity crisis – Malians are reduced to a few hours of current per day if any at all – and a new opposition movement around the influential imam Mahmoud Dicko which on 17 February lambasted the junta for failure to deliver in terms of security basic services and the cost of living and demanded an election date...

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune compounded the insult as seen from Bamako by granting an audience to the prominent Malian imam Mahmoud Dicko a frequent critic of the junta...