By John Ikani
West African leaders have announced the lifting of sanctions against the military regime in Mali.
The heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, accepted a proposal by the Malian military to hold elections and return to civilian rule by March 2024.
The bloc had imposed crippling economic sanctions after army officers staged two coups in less than a year in August 2020 and May 2021.
“After discussion, the heads of state took a firm first decision to lift the economic and financial sanctions,” ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou told reporters about the decision on Mali.
Brou said ECOWAS would continue to monitor the situation and also maintain an ECOWAS suspension of Mali for now.
The decision also demands no military junta member run as a candidate in Mali’s future presidential election, according to one ECOWAS delegate.
Brou further disclosed that ECOWAS also accepted a two-year timetable for the restoration of democracy in Burkina Faso.
However, the bloc warned Guinea, a third country which has witnessed a military takeover, that it would face economic sanctions unless it could speed up its proposed three-year transition back to democracy.
