A leading political activist whose family said that he was abducted by Mali’s military authorities has been released after a month in captivity, his relatives said. Alassane Abba, one of the leaders of the former political party Codem, was dropped off along a road in Mali’s capital, Bamako, Alhousseini Jannatta Alassane, his son, told The Associated Press. “No authority has confirmed their involvement, but we believe the intelligence services were behind the kidnapping,” he said.
Abba, who was the secretary-general of the Codem party, was seized and taken away on May 9 shortly after he spoke out against the crackdown on civic rights in the country and the ruling junta’s failure to hold an election since a coup in 2021. His arrest came amid pro-democracy demonstrations in Bamako that criticized the growing dictatorship under the junta and called for the return of democracy.
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