Mali: junta proposes a new calendar to make power to civilians

The authorities from the Putsch of August 2020 initially asked for up to five years.

Le Monde with AFP

The junta in power in Mali submitted on Saturday 8 January to the Economic Community of West African States (Cédéao) a new proposal for a timetable to make power to civilians, on the eve of the day. A heavy topic summit of this organization, Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said.

The Junta originally asked up to five years, a priori period unacceptable for Cédéao. This one holds Sunday an extraordinary summit in Accra, with the possibility of imposing new sanctions in Mali.

The head of the diplomacy and the spokesman of the Government, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, went on Saturday in Accra to submit a new proposal to the President in Exercise of the Cédéao, the Head of State Ghanaian Nana Akufo- Addo reported state television.

The new duration of the transition not specified

The Minister of Foreign Affairs reported that the Ombudsman of the Cédao, Goodluck Jonathan, on a mission to Mali during the week, had asked the junta to review the proposal of a transition that can extend over five years As of 1 January 2022.

“It is in this context that the President of the Transition [Colonel Assimi Goïta], anxious to maintain the dialogue and good cooperation with the Cédaea, hosted us to his brother [Ghana President] with a New proposal to submit to Cédéao, “he said on national television. He did not specify the new duration of the transition proposed by the junta.

Mali, poor and landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, was the scene of two military coups in August 2020 and in May 2021. The political crisis goes hand in hand with a serious security crisis since 2012 and the triggering Independent and jihadist insurrections in the North.

The Cédéao had obtained authorities from the Putsch of August 2020 the commitment they would make power to civilians elected after eighteen months. The authorities say today not to be able to respect this commitment.

/Media reports.