Malians Insist president Keita must go

Brushing aside any concern about coronavirus, huge crowds are sustaining a campaign of mass protest across Mali, demanding the resignation of the West African state's increasingly beleaguered President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.

Corruption and cronyism, weak public services and national leadership, electoral malpractice and the government's inability to bring an end to inter-communal and jihadist violence have fuelled popular frustration.

Opposition political parties have joined together to organise demonstrations, but theirs has not been the decisive voice that has repeatedly brought tens of thousands out on to the streets in a display of public anger unprecedented for decades - and which has now forced Mr Keïta and his ministers to negotiate.

The real mobiliser - the figure who wields the critical crowd pulling power - is imam, Mahmoud Dicko.