Keita meets Malians living in Gabon as he canvasses for votes ahead of July 29 polls

Malian President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita, who is contesting for his own succession in the July 29 presidential elections arrived in Libreville, Gabon on Monday to canvass for votes among Malians.

There are nearly 45,000 Malian nationals living in Gabon and constitute one of the country’s largest foreign communities living abroad.

In Gabon, Malians are mostly engaged in small scale business and in the construction industry.

“Let everyone conceive and consider this 29 July as a time of celebration, a celebration of democracy. No confrontation and no hate. But love and brotherliness, so that together our people will make their choice”, Keita said.

About 6400 people attended this rally at the Palais des Sports in Libreville. Keita is positive of wining another term.

“It will be up to each Malian’s conscience to take stock of what Ibrahim Boubacar Keita found when he assumed office in 2012 and Mali today. And the rest doesn’t matter. The essential thing is that a peaceful, transparent and free election takes place in Mali’‘, he added.

Some twenty four candidates are in the running for the presidential elections on 29 July. Analysts see Ibrahim Boubakar Keita and Soumaîla Cissé as favorites.

Northern Mali had fell in March-April 2012 under the guise of jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda, largely driven out or dispersed by a military intervention launched in January 2013 at the initiative of France and is currently ongoing.

Since the signing of the 2015 agreement, the violence has not only persisted, but has spread from the north, central and south of the country.