12 November 2010 :

the Hands Off Cain and Radical Party mission in Mali is continuing. Its objectives are to accelerate the parliamentary procedures for the definitive abolition of the death penalty in the country and to gain Mali's support for two important resolutions in discussion at the United Nations- the Universal Moratorium on capital punishment and the banning of female genital mutilation.
After meetings with the Mali Order of Lawyers, the Platform for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the National Commission of Human Rights, the Radical delegation comprising Marco Pannella, Elisabetta Zamparutti and Matteo Angioli was received by the Secretary General of the Foreign Minister, Al-Maamoun Baba Lamine Keita, by Justice Minister Maharafa Traore, and by the President of the Mali League for Human Rights, Amadou Tieoule Diarra.
Al-Maamoun Keita assured that, regarding the death penalty, the Government will go forward in the process towards the abolition of the death penalty in Mali. Concerning the initiative now in discussion at the United Nations General Assembly, he assured Mali's co-sponsorisation and vote in favour on the pro moratorium Resolution.
Justice Minister Maharafa Traore claimed that his first act after the vote of the Council of Ministers was to draw up the abolitionist law. Regarding the current impasse on the parliamentary procedure of the proposed law, Traore said he already considered “a success the fact that it wasn't withdrawn but was kept in the Parliamentary Assembly's orders of the day.” Finally, Traore warmly welcomed the Hands Off Cain proposal to organise a regional conference next year in Bamako for representatives of African countries with a Muslim majority. It was necessary “to ensure its complete success, taking into consideration the times in which it is held.”
According to the President of the League for Human Rights, Amadou Tieoule Diarra, “many want abolition but they don't assume public responsibility for it.” Concerning the resistance of certain Imams, Diarra said that “it also necessary that they publicly confront those with different opinions to theirs and that they can be easily discouraged.”
The mission in Mali is part of Hands Off Cain's “Africa Project” for the realisation of the UN resolution for the moratorium on executions and the abolition of the death penalty in Africa. The two year project, financed in part by the European Union, foresees missions in 8 African countries for the first year and the holding of regional conferences in the second year.
Meanwhile, in New York, the UN General Assembly is awaiting the vote tonight by the Third Commission, the first step by the UN General Assembly towards the new Resolution for the universal moratorium on capital punishment. After the vote in the Third Commission, the text will be voted on by the Assembly, probably towards the middle of December.