The National Workers' Union of Mali (UNTM) has begun a four-day strike after negotiations with the government over wages, bonuses and allowances failed.

A UNTM official says "the strike is being widely observed and the country is literally paralysed".

The strike which began on Monday is to demand better living and working conditions.

The striking workers are demanding the satisfaction of 48 points transmitted to the authorities.

These include the settlement of the rights of review of the law creating the Central Office for the Fight against Illicit Enrichment, and the recruitment of at least 20,000 young graduates into the civil service.

Malian civil servants are also demanding the integration into the public service of all teachers in community schools, the transposition into the private sector of the salary increases obtained in 2014 and 2019.

In a statement issued on Sunday 16 May, the UNTM warned that the strike was "renewable from Monday 24 May to Friday 28 May inclusive, and unlimited from 28 May 2021", inviting "its activists to remain mobilized and determined for the full success of the strike from Monday 17 May to Friday 21 May 2021 inclusive".

The UNTM which brings together several associations and unions from the public service is the largest trade union in Mali.