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More Sanctions Against Mali Risk to Regional Security, Diop Says

More Sanctions Against Mali Risk to Regional Security, Diop Says

Mali’s foreign minister said further sanctions over the country’s’ failure to meet a February deadline for elections would threaten regional stability. 

“Mali’s on the frontline in the fight against some of the most violent militants in the world,” Abdoulaye Diop said in an interview in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, Abidjan. 

“If the trench that is Mali just gives in, the impact will be felt across the Sahel. Any measure that weakens Mali puts our national and regional security at stake.” 

Mali’s been on the front line of a regional war against militants affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State since 2012. The landlocked country has failed to quash an insurgency that began in its desert north and has since spread to the center and spilled across its borders.

Mali’s stability was shaken further in August 2020 when a group of low-ranking army officers staged a coup that led to the ouster of then-President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and ushered in a transition government under 38-year-old junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita. Gold mining, Mali’s main resource of revenue, has so far been spared from militant violence.

Diop spoke ahead of a regional summit of West African heads of state on Sunday, where Mali’s at the top of the agenda. 

Regional leaders are pushing for a return to democratic rule no later than February 2022. Diop and other Malian officials argue that elections should be postponed further. 

“If elections were to be held today, only five out of Mali’s 19 regions would be able to vote,” Diop said. “We ask for some time for the security forces to create the necessary conditions for the vote.”

In November, the Economic Community of West African States imposed a travel ban and a freeze of financial assets for members of the transitional authority and their families. Mali could face further sanctions if it deviates further from an 18-month transition road-map. 

“The war against terrorism isn’t a fight that’s easily won,” Diop said. “We should avoid measures that risk further destabilizing Mali just as we’re starting to see some progress.”

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.