During the extraordinary summit of the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which was held on January 9, sanctions ” very hard Were adopted because the ruling junta in Mali failed to meet the February deadline to hold elections and bring civilians back to power.
Among them :
- closing the borders between Mali and ECOWAS member countries,
- the freezing of Malian assets within the Central Bank of West African States,
- suspension of transactions except for basic necessities and pharmaceuticals.
- cut-off of financial aid
- reminder of the ambassadors of member countries in Mali
« These sanctions will be applied immediately. They will be gradually lifted only after obtaining a satisfactory timetable has been finalized. », Explains ECOWAS in a press release.
These sanctions were taken despite the new timetable presented earlier by the Malian envoys. In this way, they expressed their will to “ maintain dialogue and good cooperation with ECOWAS “. A senior Ghanaian official, whose country currently holds the presidency of ECOWAS, estimated that this timetable was ” a laugh. Initially, the transition planned by the junta was five years. This new calendar is shortened to four years.
The sanctions adopted by ECOWAS leaders are comparable to those taken after the August 2020 putsch, according to a senior official attending the summit. After the coup d’état, the ECOWAS had imposed the closure of the borders of the member states with Mali as well as an embargo on commercial and financial exchanges, with the exception of basic necessities.
In the press release published after the ECOWAS meeting, the leaders ” regret the lack of political will of the transitional authorities, which has led to the lack of tangible progress in the preparation for the elections. “It is also specified that the heads of state find the chronogram proposed the day before as an emergency” unacceptable ».
What was the initial schedule?
In power since the coup d’état of August 2020, reinforced by that of May 2021, the military junta had made a commitment to hand over power to the people. For this, they had to hold presidential and legislative elections in February 2022.
However, Colonel Assimi Goïta, leader of the junta, had expressed his inability to respect the established timetable. The reason ? Persistent insecurity in the country linked to violence, mainly jihadists. The National Assizes were then responsible for establishing a new calendar. On December 30, 2021, the participants in the Assises proposed to extend the transition of the military junta ” from six months to five years. The Malian power decided by opting for an extension of the transition for 5 years.
This proposal was rejected by several Malian political organizations on January 2, 2022. In a press release, the organizations qualify this timetable as ” unilateral and unreasonable “, And considers that” violates the transition charter (…) and can in no way be a deep aspiration to the Malian people. »West African leaders are therefore meeting this January 9 to examine the timetable of the Malian authorities.
An extraordinary double top
In addition to the extraordinary ECOWAS summit, a meeting of the heads of state of the West African Monetary Union (Uemoa) is also planned. The eight WAEMU countries are also members of ECOWAS.
Their summit being a prelude to that of ECOWAS, it can mean that concerted action by these countries can be put in place against the Malian military junta. During their meeting considered to prepare the ground for concerted action, the leaders of the WAEMU states displayed their “firmness“against the junta,” a participant said on condition of anonymity.
In addition, ECOWAS has already imposed sanctions. 150 personalities, whom the ECOWAS considers guilty of obstructing the elections, have had their financial assets frozen and a travel ban imposed.
The Malian military junta was to expect additional sanctions. On December 12, the ECOWAS threatened sanctions « economic and financial Additional. ” The extension of the duration of the transition to five years concerns the entire West African region », Declared the current president of the WAEMU, the Burkinabè head of state Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in his opening speech. He seemed reluctant to devote much time to Malian colonels, expressing ” the conviction that all political, economic and social reforms aimed at rebuilding Mali could only be carried out by democratically elected authorities. »
A situation that divides
On the eve of the West African Heads of State summit, protests took place in Bamako. On the one hand, the partisans of the military power in place. On the other, opponents of the military junta’s program. They call on the military leaders to take steps to avoid falling victim to further sanctions. According to them, it is the Malian people who will be the first to suffer, in the event of sanctions.
For their part, the supporters of the military junta believe, however, that the country’s security situation justifies the proposed transition timetable. On the other hand, they also fear sanctions. They therefore call on ECOWAS leaders to be lenient.