The leaders of West African countries decided to close their countries’ borders with Mali, freeze their bank balances, prevent bank transfers, withdraw all diplomats from Bamako, and cancel all forms of cooperation with Mali, as well as financial aid, except for medicines and foodstuffs.
The leaders of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) and the West African Monetary Community held their two extraordinary summits, amid calls from the majority of the members of the two groups to reject the plan of the leaders of the Malian army to extend their stay in power for an additional 5 years, after the coup they carried out in May 2020.
At the conclusion of two summits held in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, the head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on Sunday that the group would “close the border with Mali and impose comprehensive economic sanctions on it in response to the unacceptable postponement” of the elections that the interim authorities promised to hold after the military coup in 2020. .
In a statement issued after an emergency summit in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, the 15-member group said it found the proposed timetable for the transition to constitutional rule totally unacceptable, saying that this timetable “simply means that any illegitimate military transitional government will take the Malian people hostage.” .
The group stated that it agreed to impose additional sanctions with immediate effect. This included closing the members’ land and air borders with Mali, suspending non-essential financial transactions, freezing state financial assets in ECOWAS commercial banks and recalling the ambassadors of ECOWAS member states from Bamako, the capital of Mali.
Meanwhile, the West African Economic and Monetary Union instructed all financial institutions under its umbrella to immediately suspend Mali’s membership, which means halting the country’s access to regional financial markets.
And the French press agency quoted an official in the group, who declined to be named, that the leaders of “ECOWAS” supported the measures taken at the meeting of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, which immediately preceded their meeting.
strictness
These sanctions are much stricter than those imposed after the first coup in August 2020. Amid the pandemic, their impact has been evident in this landlocked country that is considered one of the poorest in the world.
The new measures of ECOWAS represent a significant tightening of its position towards Mali, whose interim authorities have proposed holding elections in December 2025, instead of next February, as was originally agreed with the bloc.
The ruling military junta in Mali says that it is unable to meet this deadline, pointing to the continuing instability in the country that is witnessing violence, in addition to the need to implement reforms such as the reform of the constitution, so that the elections are not accompanied by protests, as happened in the previous elections.
The military council requested a transitional period of up to 5 years, a deadline that the Economic Community of West African States considered unacceptable.
Under previous sanctions, Mali’s membership in the group has been suspended and members of the transitional authority and their relatives are subject to travel bans and asset freezes.
Since the first coup in August 2020 and then the second coup in May 2021, which established Colonel Guetta as head of the “transitional” authorities, ECOWAS has been pushing for the return of civilians to power as soon as possible.
Sunday’s meeting is the eighth held by the leaders of West African countries to discuss the situation in Mali (and Guinea after another coup in… September/ September 2021) since August 2020, not counting regular meetings.
The current president of the Union, President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, said in a speech at the opening of the summit that “the extension of the transitional period to 5 years worries the whole of West Africa.”
Kabore seemed reluctant to give the military more time, noting that he was convinced that “all political, economic and social reforms aimed at re-establishing Mali can only be implemented by democratically elected authorities.”