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Influential cleric Dicko emerges as driver of Mali protest movement

Mahmoud Dicko, then-head of Mali's High Islamic Council, speaks during a rally at the March 26 stadium in Bamako, Mali, August 12, 2012.[Photo: REUTERS]

When five West African presidents arrive in Mali on Thursday to try to defuse a political crisis that has alarmed governments in the region and beyond, the man whose assent they need the most will be one who has never held elected office.

Mahmoud Dicko, a Saudi-trained preacher known for his Koranic erudition and social conservatism, is seen by admirers and detractors alike as the galvanizing force behind a protest movement now threatening the political survival of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

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