Yesterday the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) and President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday hosted 10 West African Heads of State and state officials group in the capital, Accra.
This follows the recent events in Mail where the President, Prime Minister and Defence Minister of the Interim Mali government were on Monday, May 24, detained by military officers led by interim Vice President Colonel Assimi Goita.
President Bah Ndaw, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane and Defence Minister Souleymane Doucoure were all taken to a military base in Kati, outside the capital Bamako.
According to Colonel Assimi Goita, the arrest was necessitated by a failure on the part of the three to consult him about the formation of a new cabinet. He also accused the government of mishandling social tensions in Mali, including a strike by the main union.
It would be recalled that in August last year, Mali witnessed a series of protests which eventually led to the removal of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18, 2020, by a military junta. President Boubacar Keita was charged with corruption and poor management of the economy.
His overthrow led to a negotiated ECOWAS settlement, where it was decided that a civilian-led transition team was to be constituted to man the affairs of the country, until it returns to democratic rule.
An extraordinary ECOWAS meeting with the military junta was held in Ghana to deliberate on the issue. President Akufo-Addo stated at the time that it was necessary to resolve the conflict because terrorists were taking advantage of the situation to cause further damage to the country.
It was, therefore, decided that the transitional team will only be allowed to run for 18 months, effective September 15, 2020 within which it hopes a civilian rule would have been put in place.
It was also agreed that the transition Vice President shall not under any circumstances replace the transition President and Prime Minister.
From the above guidelines, one can say that the rules for governing the country for 18 months were clearly communicated, so there should be no cause for the tension we are witnessing in Mali now.
We want to say that the military junta should be made to follow the guidelines given by the ECOWAS leaders and a refusal to do so should attract heavy sanctions that would eventually force them to co-operate.
Last year, France, the European Union and the United States threatened to impose targeted sanctions over what French President Emmanuel Macron has termed “a coup within a coup”. ECOWAS on the other hand actually went ahead to impose sanctions, including border closures on Mali.
It was after some of these sanctions that the military junta agreed to 18-month civilian-led transition. The Malian military must be patient and should observe the roadmap religiously, since that is the only way peace can return to Mali.
Just like President Akufo-Addo indicated last year, terrorists are lurking and can easily take advantage of the situation and cause further harm to Mali, which may extend to other neighboring countries. We obviously don’t want this to happen in a fragile West African sub-region.
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