Mali bows to anti-reform protests

President Konare has a reputation to keep

Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare has announced he is calling off a constitional referendum that would have granted him immunity from prosecution in response to widespread public criticism.

Mr Konare said that his action was taken for the sake of democracy because the vote, which had been scheduled for 23 December, needed the support of the people.

A remarkable turnaround. The president started by reading a statement on state televison defending the referendum and ended with him cancelling it

BBC's Joan Baxter in Bamako

The country's 11-party collective and the independent union of the judiciary had criticised the proposed reforms, describing them as unconstitutional.

Mali's democratic credentials among the donor community has attracted high profile visits from top American politicians and more recently from President Thabo Mbeki of South African.

The BBC's Joan Baxter in the capital, Bamako, says that this could be part of the reason for the president's change of mind as he cherishes his democratic reputation with donors.

Total control

If Malians had voted for reforms they would also have handed over to the president total control of the country's supreme legislative body, the constitutional courts.

The opposition parties on Tuesday evening called a news conference in which they charged that the proposals which they had helped write and that parliament had accepted in 1999 had been altered by Mr Konare.

The collective also said that if such a proposal had been accepted in a referendum then it would have merited a charge of high treason, which is the only crime an out-going president would have been prosecuted for.

But Mr Konare whose last electoral term ends early next year, rejected allegations that he was acting unilaterally and arbitrarily.

Mounting pressure

Pressure on the president has been building for sometime.

In July a former Malian prime minister, and close ally of the president, Boubakar Keita launched a new political party representing the stiffest challenge yet to Mr Konare's Adema party in the elections.

Political tension among the elites was reaching fever pitch

The launch of the party caused a split in Adema, of which Mr Keita was a member.

And it was this break-away group, according to our correspondent, which has proved the biggest headache for Mr Konare and could have forced him to withdraw the changes.

Our correspondent says the announcement "was a remarkable turnaround. The president started reading a statement on state televison defending the referendum and ended by cancelling it."

Suspension

She added that the statement should now defuse fever-pitched tension among the political elite in the country.

But there are also tensions inside the ruling party itself.

On Monday it was reported that it had suspended primaries due to be held in January to select its candidates for the presidential poll, over fears that it might divide the party.

According to party officials, the political mud slinging between the four candidates had become so bad that Mr Konare had to intervene.