West African leaders gathered on Sunday in Accra on the Malian issue adopted “very harsh” sanctions on Sunday due to the junta’s failure to meet the February deadline for elections to bring civilians back to power, a participant said. at the top.
The heads of state and government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sitting behind closed doors in the Ghanaian capital adopted measures comparable to those taken after the August 2020 putsch, a said this senior official on condition of anonymity pending the formalization of the measures.
ECOWAS then imposed the closure of the borders of member states with Mali as well as an embargo on trade and financial exchanges, with the exception of basic necessities.
ECOWAS leaders endorsed the measures taken at a summit of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) immediately preceding theirs, the same official said. The UEMOA countries are all members of ECOWAS.
During their meeting considered to prepare the ground for a concerted action, the leaders of the UEMOA States displayed their “Firmness” against the junta, a participant said on condition of anonymity.
Two ministers of the Malian government dominated by colonels had yet submitted Saturday to ECOWAS a revised timetable for the return of civilians to the head of the country, the scene of two military coups since 2020 and in the grip of a deep security crisis.
“Funny”
“The Malian counter-proposal is a four-year transition. It’s a joke ”, said a senior Ghanaian official, whose country currently holds the presidency of ECOWAS and who was also speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to interfere with future discussions.
The junta that rules Mali initially asked for up to five years. The new offer has been presented for the sake of “Maintain dialogue and good cooperation with ECOWAS”, said on national television on Saturday one of the two Malian emissaries, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdoulaye Diop, without specifying the content.
The move was clearly aimed at appeasing the wrath of a number of leaders gathered in Accra.
Since the first putsch of August 2020 reinforced by that of May 2021 inducting Colonel Assimi Goïta as president of the « transition », ECOWAS is pushing for the return of civilians as soon as possible.
For the organization whose credibility is at stake, it is a question of defending its fundamental principles of governance, of stopping the contagion of the fait accompli and of containing regional instability. It had obtained after the first putsch the commitment of the colonels to organize legislative and presidential elections in February 2022.
The junta reluctantly gave in to the pressure. She says today that she is not able to meet the deadline. The authorities invoke the persistent insecurity in the country, plagued by violence of all kinds, jihadist, community, villainous… They affirm the need for preliminary reforms so that the elections do not suffer from contestation like the previous ones.
Freezing of financial assets
Measuring the importance of the stakes for ECOWAS as for the country at the heart of Sahelian instability, it was the eighth time that West African leaders met, face-to-face or by videoconference, to talk specifically about Mali (with Guinea after another putsch in September 2021) since August 2020, not counting the ordinary summits.
“The extension of the duration of the transition to five years is of concern to 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 give colonels much time, expressing “The conviction that all political, economic and social reforms aimed at rebuilding Mali could only be carried out by democratically elected authorities”.
The ECOWAS has already imposed a freeze on their financial assets and a travel ban on 150 personalities, guilty according to it of obstructing the elections.
At their December 12 summit, West African leaders brandished the threat of sanctions “Economic and financial” additional.
In the midst of the pandemic, the embargo imposed in 2020 on a poor and landlocked country had been severely felt. These sanctions were lifted after a month and a half.