Former Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan arrives in Bamako Aug. 22, 2020.  PHOTO CREDIT:  twitter@GEJonathan

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan did not have  much luck in regional mediation efforts to broker a deal with junta leaders in the west African nation Mali after last week’s  military coup.   The Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS)  dispatched negotiators to Mali at the weekend in a bid to reverse President Ibrahim Keita’s removal from power last week.  The former Nigerian president led the regional mediation team.  Talks between West African mediators and Mali’s military coup leaders ended on Monday after three days of discussions without any decision on the make-up of a transitional government.  ECOWAS called for  the immediate reinstatement to power of President  Keita who was forced to resign following the military coup.  During an emergency summit of  ECOWAS held Thursday,  leaders of the 15-nation bloc also called for the immediate release of Keita who  was arrested  along with several other government officials.  The bloc also moved to suspend Mali from all ECOWAS decision-making bodies with immediate effect, in accordance with the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, until the effective restoration of constitutional order.   ECOWAS further decided to close all land and air borders as well as stop all financial, economic and trade flows and transactions between Member States and Mali, except for basic essentials, drugs and other supplies and equipment for the fight against COVID-19, petroleum products and electricity. 

Sources said the talks quickly moved from the possibility of reinstating President Keita due to resistance to that by junta leaders to who would lead Mali and for how long in a transitional government.

ECOWAS Meets  With Mali’s Military  Junta  Aug. 22, 2020 in the west African nation’s capital city Bamako 

Last month, Former Nigeria President  Jonathan  was been appointed by ECOWAS, as a special envoy to lead the sub-regional body’s mediation mission in Mali amid the political crisis that ultimately led to a military coup. 

We arrived in Bamako this afternoon to continue with the@ecowas_cedeao mediation & peace talks towards resolving Mali's political crisis & restoring normalcy in this beautiful West African country. We'Il continue to engage Malian stakeholders until lasting peace is found.
– GEJ pic.twitter.com/w7jT8W7Tec

— Goodluck E. Jonathan (@GEJonathan) August 22, 2020

The ECOWAS delegation met the 75-year-old former president, who was being held at the military barracks in Kati, near the capital, Bamako.