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| - Malian opposition leader Mahmoud Dicko on Wednesday urged people to protest en masse on Friday, despite recent government overtures to the resurgent political opposition in the war-torn West African state. Dicko, an influential imam, accused President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of ignoring tens of thousands of people who had protested on June 5, demanding his resignation. "He hasn't learned his lesson, he doesn't listen to people," Dicko told local media in his native Bambara language. "But this time he will understand." Keita announced on Tuesday that he would hold talks on establishing a unity government, in a move apparently intended to appease increasingly vocal opposition critics. The president has been under pressure to solve a spiralling security crisis, which first broke out in the north of the Sahel country in 2012. The violence has since spread to the centre of the country, inflaming ethnic tensions, as well as to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have died in the conflict, while hundreds of thousands more have had to flee their homes. Failure to stop the bloodshed, as well as a flagging economy and a perception of widespread corruption, has fed support for opposition groups in Mali. Dicko is an Islamic hardliner and one of the main leaders of the new so-called "June 5" movement, a coalition of opposition groups that takes its name from the mass anti-Keita demonstration held earlier this month. "Nothing works in Mali and no part of the country is moving (forward)," Dicko said at a press conference in the capital Bamako on Wednesday. "It's time to stop the intimidation to make things move forward. We should unite to restore this country's honour and dignity," he added. The presence of thousands of foreign troops in Mali has done little to slow the spate of jihadist attacks and ethnic killings across the poor former French colony of some 19 million people. In the most recent large attack, on Sunday, militants killed 27 soldiers in an ambush in volatile central Mali. Two local government officials were also kidnapped in the north of the country on Wednesday, according to an official from Mali's territorial administration ministry, who suggested that either criminals or jihadists were responsible. The June 5 rally in Bamako brought together religious leaders as well as figures from the country's civil society. It also followed sporadic demonstrations last month over the outcome of recent parliamentary elections -- which Keita's party won -- as well as over coronavirus restrictions. The government held the long-delayed parliamentary poll in March despite security concerns. Electing new MPs was viewed as a key step towards enacting political reforms that could break Mali's cycle of violence. But the poll was marred by jihadist attacks as well as the kidnapping of opposition leader Soumaila Cisse. In April, Mali's constitutional court also overturned the results for some 30 disputed seats -- of which about a dozen were awarded to candidates from Keita's party in a decision that triggered protests in several Malian cities. On Tuesday, Keita responded to mounting political pressure by announcing his intention to hold talks on forming a new unity government, as well as reforming the constitutional court and national assembly. The president was non-committal but the announcement raised the possibility that opposition figures would be included in a future government. kt-lal/eml/gd
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