We are critical on a number of fronts. Looking at it first from an institutional standpoint, when the Malian people rejected the old regime, they wan… - Bouli Ali Diallo

With pleasure. Before the 26 March revolution, there was a general consensus that, in the process of privatisation, the state sector should be managed in a way that benefited the Malian economy. But the reality is that privatisation methods have not changed.

Naturally, MPs have seen what happened in Niger and elsewhere, but fear is tempered here because officers in Mali's forces have also given a great deal of thought to the effects of military dictatorship.

Let me put it this way. The military dictatorship went through three different stages. During the first stage, just after the coup on November 19 1968, the junta chose Mao Tse Tung as a model, hammering home the idea that power could be won by force of arms-and it was carried away by the popular acclaim it initially received.