West African Bloc Sanctions Mali’s Transitional Leaders
West African Bloc Sanctions Mali’s Transitional Leaders
(Bloomberg) -- The Economic Community of West African States on Sunday imposed sanctions on Mali’s transitional leaders after they informed the regional bloc they would not be able to hold elections in February to return to democratic rule.
The sanctions include travel bans and a freeze on financial assets, on all members of the transitional authority and their families, ECOWAS said in a statement after a summit in Ghana’s capital, Accra. The organization would consider additional sanctions in December if no progress is made, it said.
Mali’s interim government, which took power following the military’s overthrow of President Ibrahim Keita in August 2020, had promised to oversee an 18-month transition back to constitutional rule, culminating in elections on February 27, 2022.
The current administration led by Col. Assimi Goita informed ECOWAS “of their inability to meet the transition deadline of February 2022,” according to the statement. ECOWAS “highly deplores the lack of progress made in the preparations for the elections, including the absence of a detailed timetable of activities for the conduct of elections on the agreed dates.”
After leading a group of junior army officers to stage last year’s coup, Goita appointed an interim government to oversee the transition, only for him to stage a second coup in May to oust the interim president and take over the position himself.
ECOWAS on Sunday also upheld a travel ban and asset freeze imposed in September against coup leaders in neighboring Guinea.
The regional body appointed Ghanaian diplomat Mohamed Ibn Chambas as a special envoy to Guinea to engage the transitional leaders following the putsch, which brought an end to President Alpha Conde’s decade-long rule. The objective is to see to a successful and short transition process in the world’s largest bauxite exporter, it said.
Guinea’s interim president Mamadi Doumbouya, who led the coup, is yet to set a date for the country’s elections.
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