Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has shelved plans for a referendum on Constitutional Reforms that have been met with opposition and ignited regular street protests, he said on state television overnight.
The Constitutional changes would have given extra powers to the president, created new regions, established a new Senate chamber and recognised claims by ethnic Tuaregs in the north to a degree of autonomy by officially labelling their desert provinces with the Tuareg name ‘Azawad’.
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