Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have suspended Mali from their regional bloc in response to last week’s coup but stopped short of imposing new sanctions.
Leaders of the 15-member in ECOWAS held an emergency summit in Ghana’s capital, Accra on Sunday to agree to a response to the Malian military’s toppling of a president and prime minister for the second time in nine months.
According to Shirley Botchwey, Ghana’s foreign minister, the decision to suspend Mali was to ensure the return of democracy.
“The suspension from ECOWAS takes immediate effect until the deadline of the end of February 2022 when they are supposed to hand over to a democratically elected government,” Botchwey said.
“One of the decisions of the heads of state is that they should ensure that in the next few days a civilian prime minister is put in place to form the next government.”
The bloc’s final communique also called for the immediate appointment of a new civilian prime minister and the formation of an “inclusive” government.
Bah N’Daw, the interim president, and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were last week detained at a military base in the wake of the coup.
N’Daw, who was Mali’s former defence minister, was named president of the country’s new transitional government last September after a military junta ousted President Ibrahim Keita from office.
N’Daw and Assimi Goita, leader of the military junta, were appointed to oversee an 18-month transition after which national elections will be conducted.
The military junta had come under pressure from leaders of ECOWAS to return power to civilians following the August 18, 2020 coup.
ECOWAS had also imposed sanctions on Mali after the coup.
