The Heads of Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have today scheduled to hold an extraordinary summit to examine the political situation in Mali. The Directorate of Communication of the ECOWAS disclosed this yesterday in Abuja. The summit which is expected to hold virtually through a teleconference was convened in reaction to the military coup d’etat that took place in Mali that toppled the government of Boubakar Keita on Tuesday. The Rebel soldier took President Ibrahim Keita and the Prime Minister, Boubou Cisse into custody on Tuesday afternoon and drove them to a military base in the outskirt of Bamako that morning.
Keita later announced on Wednesday that he resigned to avoid bloodshed in the country. However, the ECOWAS in a swift reaction to the coup vow to close land borders to Mali and push for sanctions against all the coup plotters and their collaborators.
The ECOWAS nations block where Mali is a party to have suspended the country from its affairs and decision making.
ECOWAS had last month suggested the formation of a unity interim government while offering continued support for Keita, but the opposing kicked against it. Meanwhile, the Nigerian government had yesterday condemned the coup in its totality and called for urgent activation of the ECOWAS standby force.
It also demanded the immediate restoration of constitutional order in the country.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs in a tweet wrote; “The Nigerian Government unequivocally condemns the coup d’état that took place in Mali yesterday (Tuesday) and demands the immediate and unconditional restoration of constitutional order.
“We welcome the urgent activation of the ECOWAS Standby force.”
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, demanded the “immediate and unconditional release” of Keita and Cisse as diplomats in New York said the Security Council would hold emergency talks on Wednesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the mutiny, according to his office, and said he supported mediation efforts to resolve the crisis by other West African states. Also, a former speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said the military intervention in Mali could contaminate other democracies in the sub-region if not resisted by the international community.
The coup’s leaders have pledged a political transition and new elections within a “reasonable time”.
Colonel-Major Ismael Wague, deputy chief of staff of Mali’s air force, announced on national television the formation of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), which would lead the volatile West African nation until general elections were scheduled.
“We, the patriotic forces grouped together in the CNSP, have decided to take our responsibilities before the people and before history,” Wague told the nation.
The CNSP was aiming for “a civil political transition” and would hold general elections “within a reasonable timeframe,” he added.
A military coup had been necessary because Keita’s government had led Mali into “chaos, anarchy, and insecurity,” Wague said. The ousted president said yesterday that he had resigned to avoid “bloodshed”.
Keita appeared calm as he appeared in a state television broadcast soon after midnight to declare the dissolution of the government and national assembly, and said he had no choice but to resign with immediate effect.
“If it pleased certain elements of our military to decide this should end with their intervention, do I really have a choice?” he said of the day’s events. “(I must) submit to it, because I don’t want any bloodshed.”
The coup coincided with opposition plans to resume protests against Keita.
A resistance group, M5, is insisting that the Constitutional Court must be dissolved, and the President resign before peace can return to the country. (Dailytrust).
