The West African delegation and the putschists continued their discussions in Bamako this Sunday for the second consecutive day with a view to a return to “normal constitutional order”.
“It’s going very well,” assured Goodluck Jonathan, the appointed mediator of the Community of West African States on Sunday morning.
AFP
Discussions between a West African delegation and the junta that took power in Mali continued Sunday for the second consecutive day in Bamako. The fate of ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was at the center of the talks.
“It’s going very well”, assured the former Nigerian head of state, Goodluck Jonathan, the appointed mediator of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Sunday morning, mandated to “ensure the immediate return of constitutional order ”in the Sahelian country.
“For more than three hours, the junta and the ECOWAS delegation have been discussing the fate of President IBK and the return to normal constitutional order,” a member of the West African mission told AFP. requested anonymity.
“It’s okay”
On Saturday, several ECOWAS envoys were able to meet the deposed head of state, who announced his resignation on Tuesday, while he was in the hands of the putschists. “We saw President Keïta,” confirmed Goodluck Jonathan, who said about him: “It’s okay.”
Previously, the ECOWAS envoys had been received for about thirty minutes by members of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) set up by the junta, including the new strongman of the country, Colonel Assimi Goïta. According to the spokesperson for the military, Ismaël Wagué, “exchanges with ECOWAS are going very well”.
The acclaimed military
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, underlined the “will to really move forward” of the military and the concern of West African countries to find “a solution that satisfies the Malians first of all. and which is also beneficial for all the countries of the sub-region ”. “We hope to be able to finalize everything by Monday,” he added.
Progress must be made quickly, explained a member of the delegation: “We need results because on August 26, the heads of state of ECOWAS meet to say whether they are stepping up the sanctions against the junta or whether we loosen the vice ”.
Goodluck Jonathan, the appointed mediator of the Community of West African States (left), walks in Bamako alongside the president of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People set up by the junta. (Sunday 23 August 2020)
Keystone
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–The jubilant crowd celebrates the coup in Mali. (Friday August 21, 2020)
AFP
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The neighboring countries of Mali, gathered at an extraordinary summit, demanded Thursday the “recovery” of President Keïta and decided to send this delegation to Bamako, the fourth of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan since the start of the socio-political crisis which has shaken Mali since the disputed legislative elections of March-April.
Four soldiers killed
Elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2018, President Keïta was strongly contested in the street at the call of a motley opposition movement which demanded his resignation. Denounced by the international community, the military coup did not arouse any notable opposition in Bamako. The Malians resumed their activities the day after the putsch and the national television, ORTM, continues its programs.
The military in power promised to quickly put in place a “political transition”. They were cheered on Friday by thousands of people in central Bamako. As political and diplomatic talks continue in Bamako, four soldiers were killed and one seriously injured on Saturday by an explosive device in the center of the country.
In March 2012, when the Tuareg rebels launched a major offensive in northern Mali, soldiers had already mutinied against the government’s inability to cope with the situation and had driven out President Amadou Toumani Touré.
But the coup precipitated the fall of northern Mali into the hands of armed Islamist groups, until they were largely driven out by an international military intervention launched by France in January 2013 and still ongoing. .
Insecurity
The attacks by jihadist groups spread in 2015 in the center of the country, causing heavy civilian and military losses.
The inability of the Malian state to control large parts of its territory in the north and the center has been denounced for months by opponents of President Keïta. The putschists also justified their intervention in particular by the insecurity reigning in the country and by the lack of means of the army.
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