Colonel Assimi Goita speaks to the press at the Malian Ministry of Defence in Bamako, Mali, on August 19, 2020 after confirming his position as the president of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP). – The military junta that took power in Mali on August 19, 2020, asked that the population resume “its activities” and cease “vandalism” the day after the coup that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and his government. (Photo by MALIK KONATE / AFP)
Nov. 7, 2021
West Africa’s main political and economic bloc imposed sanctions on Sunday against Mali’s transitional leaders after they informed the organisation they would not be able to hold presidential and legislative elections in February.
Mali’s interim government, which took power following the military’s overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020, had promised the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to oversee an 18-month transition back to democracy culminating in elections on Feb. 27, 2022.
ECOWAS said in a statement following a summit in Ghana that the interim authorities had informed it “of their inability to meet the transition deadline of February 2022”.
The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes on all members of the transitional authority as well as certain family members, the statement said, adding ECOWAS would consider additional sanctions in December if no progress is made.
ECOWAS first imposed sanctions, including border closures, immediately after last year’s coup but lifted them less than two months later after the coup leaders agreed to the 18-month transition.
Since then, the leader of the initial coup, Colonel Assimi Goita, staged a second coup in May, this time ousting the interim president and taking over the position himself.
REUTERS
