Mali Junta Disappears Two More Opposition Leaders — El Bachir Thiam and Abba Alhassane Seized as Goïta Dissolves All Political Parties

In a continuation of the systematic elimination of political opposition that began with the abduction of Mountaga Tall on May 3, 2026, two further prominent political figures were seized in the days of May 8–10. El Bachir Thiam, president of the Yelema ('Change') party, was arrested in Kati near Bamako on approximately May 9. Abba Alhassane, Secretary-General of the CODEM (Citizens' Party) — the party of abducted former minister Mountaga Tall — was seized by masked men claiming to be gendarmes around the same period. Neither was presented with a warrant; neither has been formally charged as of May 10. Abdoul Karim Traoré, a CODEM youth leader, was also reported missing. The disappearances coincide with the Mali transitional authority's formal dissolution of all political parties via decree, following a national conference that also granted Goïta a five-year presidential term — moving Mali definitively from a transitional military regime toward an entrenched authoritarian state. HRW, Amnesty International, and the IAPL (International Association of People's Lawyers) documented the cases as consistent with patterns of enforced disappearance. The junta has provided no information on any of the detained figures. The dissolutions and disappearances come as the JNIM security emergency gives the junta maximum political cover: international attention is focused on the Bamako siege and military crisis, creating a permissive environment for domestic political repression. AllAfrica and ISS Africa flagged this as a critical threshold: with no functioning political parties, no elections scheduled, and no civil society space remaining, Mali's transition to a permanent military state appears complete.