Such gatherings are highly unusual in the troubled west African state, where the ruling junta has repressed all discordant voices and silenced the opposition.

The Sahel country has been grappling with widespread insecurity for more than a decade and the military seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

"We don't want political parties to be dissolved," said Abdallah Yattara, a member of the Yelema party, at the coalition's news conference.

The authorities have cancelled a meeting scheduled for Sunday in Bamako by the political coalition.

The authorities have been overseeing talks over the past two weeks for reforms that include one proposal to dissolve existing political groups, keeping only a handful of pro-junta parties.

The adoption of the reforms was one of the recommendations of a junta-led national consultation in late 2022 to "build a way out of the crisis" in Mali.

The coalition, in a joint statement read out by spokesman Oumar Ibrahim Toure, objected that they had not been invited to the talks, denouncing what it described as "a pseudo-concertation".

The news conference went ahead under surveillance from a significant police presence, an AFP journalist noted.

The ruling military junta failed to honour a commitment to oversee a return to civilian rule by the end of March 2024 and has postponed the presidential election to an unspecified date.

The junta suspended activities of parties and political associations between April and July 2024, warning of a risk of "subversion".

Consultations boycotted by the main parties, in May 2024 brought a "recommendation" that the military remain in power "for two to five more years".

It also proposed the candidacy of the current head of the junta when presidential polls are finally held.