The Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS has suspended Mali from the West African bloc.
The decision reached on Sunday at Ghana was not unconnected to a second coup in nine months by the poor Sahel country’s military.
“The suspension from ECOWAS takes immediate effect until the deadline of the end of February 2022 when they are supposed to hand over to a democratically elected government,” Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey told reporters.
“One of the decisions of the heads of state is that they should ensure that in the next few days a civilian prime minister is put in place to form the next government,” she added.
Ten regional heads of state and three foreign ministers attended the summit in the Ghanaian capital Accra, with former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan serving as mediator in the crisis.
Goita led the young army officers who overthrew Mali’s elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last August over perceived corruption and his failure to quell a bloody jihadist insurgency.
After the takeover, the military agreed to appoint civilians as interim president and prime minister under pressure from ECOWAS.
But on Monday, soldiers detained transitional president Bah Ndaw and prime minister Moctar Ouane, releasing them on Thursday while saying that they had resigned.
The twin arrests triggered a diplomatic uproar and marked Mali’s second apparent coup within a year.
Mali’s constitutional court completed Goita’s rise to full power on Friday by naming him transitional president.
With the junta going back on its previous commitment to civilian political leaders, doubts have been raised about its other pledges, including a promise to hold elections in early 2022.
The junta said this week it would continue to respect that timetable, but added that it could be subject to change.
