The Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa.
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
Leaders of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Mali from its regional bloc after a second coup in nine months in the Sahel nation. ECOWAS leaders decided at an Extraordinary Summit on Sunday to suspend Mali but stopped short of imposing sanctions. The summit was convened to review the prevailing socio political crisis in Mali following the arrest, detention and subsequent resignations of the President and the Prime Minister of the Transition on 26th May 2021, as well as to determine the next line of action for the transition, according to ECOWAS.
Speaking after the meeting, Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway said Mali’s suspension “from ECOWAS takes immediate effect until the deadline of the end of February 2022”, when the country’s interim leaders “are supposed to hand over to a democratically elected government”. The United Nations, EU, U.S. and the African Union strongly denounced the “kidnapping” of Mali’s civilian leadership last week. Military officers detained the west African nation’s president and prime minister on Monday, plunging the country back into chaos. They accused the Mali military of a second coup as President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane headed an interim government installed after a putsch in August. Ndaw and Ouane resigned on Wednesday while still in detention and were later released to house arrest.
In a statement, ECOWAS demand the immediate unconditional release of the former President of the Transition, the Prime Minister and their collaborators who are kept under house arrest. ECOWAS called for a new civilian Prime Minister to be nominated immediately.
The underlisted Heads of State and Government participated in the
Extraordinary Summit or their duly mandated representatives:
– H.E. Roch-Marc Christian KABORE, President of Burkina Faso;
– H.E. Alassane OUATTARA, President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire;
– H.E. Adama BARROW, President of the Republic of The Gambia;
– H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa AKUFO-ADDO, President of the Republic of
Ghana;
– H.E. Umaro Sissoco EMBALÓ, President of the Republic of Guinea Bissau;
– H.E. George WEAH, President of the Republic of Liberia;
– H.E. Mohamed BAZOUM, President of the Republic of Niger;
– H.E. Muhammadu BUHARI, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
– H.E. Julius Maada BIO, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone;
– H.E. Faure Essozimna GNASSINGBE, President of the Togolese Republic.
– Mr Aurelien AGBENONCI, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Integration of
the Republic of Benin;
– Mr Rui SOARES, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Communities of the Republic of Cabo Verde;
– Mrs Aissata TALL SALL, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad of the Republic of Senegal;
– Mrs Moussoukoro SANGARE, Charge d’Affaires a. i. of the Embassy of the Republic of Guinea in Ghana.
- The following high-ranking personalities also participated in the extraordinary Summit:
– H.E. Goodluck Ebele JONATHAN, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ECOWAS Special Envoy and Mediator to Mali;
– H.E. Jean-Claude Kassi BROU, President of the ECOWAS Commission; H.E. El-Ghassim WANE, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Mali, Head of the Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)
