Mali’s opposition leader travels to Ghana to discuss ECOWAS crisis | Ghanaian News
The West African Bloc fears that a recent overthrow of the government could undermine Mali’s transition to democracy and increase regional concerns.
Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali’s party leader and new home president, has been invited to an emergency meeting of West African leaders in Ghana.
At a special meeting on Sunday, 15 members of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) are expected to discuss how to resolve a second takeover of Mali in nine months.
Goita left Bamako for Ghana’s capital, Accra, on Saturday after receiving an ECOWAS letter asking for “talks”, according to the AFP news agency.
The Office of the President of Mali, in a statement on Facebook, said Goita had taken part in the surprise meeting “along with his colleagues” and would discuss the discussions with the regional leaders.
Journalists related to the visit of the President of the Transition, Colonel @GoitaAssimi In Accra where they will take part in the ECOWAS Extragency Summit with their colleagues in Mali this Sunday 👇https://t.co/uy0c9EA3sd pic.twitter.com/dtGFgH9v9y
– Presidence Mali (@PresidenceMali) May 29, 2021
The meeting should begin at 2:00 pm (14:00 GMT) on Sunday.
ECOWAS – who acted as mediator last August when Goita and others ousted Mali’s democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita – has warned that it could bring back sanctions after the colonial occupation.
The Bloc fears that the seizure could escalate tensions in northern and central Mali and reduce war against al-Qaeda-linked militants and ISIL (ISIS).
ECOWAS, the United States and France have all warned of new sanctions.
French President Emmanuel Macron, on a visit to Rwanda and South Africa, said on Saturday that he had told West African leaders that they could not return to a country “where there is no democracy or change”.
The unrest in Mali began last week when Goita ordered the arrest of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane after a dispute over a cabinet reshuffle that left two militants dead.
Goita had become the vice president at the time.
Ndaw and Ouane resigned from prison on Wednesday and were later released.
Then came the Constitutional Court – against the joint declaration issued following the negotiations after last August’s conspiracy – named Goita as the new president of reform in Mali. The announcement, reached between ECOWAS and Mali’s military and military leaders, said the vice president of the reforms “would not allow a replacement president”.
As the military recovers from its initial commitment to ordinary political leaders, skepticism has led to some of its promises, including early elections in 2020.
The military said this week it would continue to honor the occasion, but added that it could change.
