ECOWAS: sanctions maintained against Mali, ultimatum to Guinea, Burkina

#Mali : The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), meeting Friday in Accra, Ghana, announced the maintenance of sanctions against Mali because of the delay in a return of civilians to power.

The West African organization has also decided to sanction Guinea if it does not present a «acceptable timeline for transition» before the end of April 2022, and Burkina Faso if it does not release former President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré by March 31, 2022, according to the final communiqué of the meeting of ECOWAS heads of state.

ECOWAS specifies that in the event of non-compliance with its demands, it will impose sanctions against members of the government and the National Transitional Council (CNT). Burkina’s transitional authorities will also receive “individual sanctions” if they do not comply.

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Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, countries plagued by political but also security crises for the first two, have all three been the scene of military coups since August 2020. Mali has even experienced two putschs.

ECOWAS is pressuring the juntas now in power to quickly return power to civilians. It suspended the three countries from its instances.

On January 9, it inflicted severe economic retaliation measures on Mali, sanctioning the military’s stated plan to remain at the head of the country for several more years when they had initially pledged to organize elections in February 2022.