In the spotlight: still no lifting of sanctions in Mali

Audio 04:23

The headquarters of ECOWAS in Nigeria.

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By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

9 min

Publicity

"

 Mali is far from re-establishing trade and diplomatic exchanges with its neighbors, member countries of ECOWAS

,

notes the Maliweb news site

,

despite the designation of a retired soldier as president and a civilian. at the head of the transitional government.

 "

What is stuck for the sub-regional organization are the prerogatives granted to the transitional vice-president, Colonel Assimi Goïta, leader of the August 18 coup leaders.

Indeed, he could take the place of the president in case of force majeure.

A provision refused by ECOWAS which wants a rapid return of power to civilians.

ECOWAS is also awaiting the dissolution of the junta leadership and the release or presentation to justice of military and civilian detainees.

Is ECOWAS wrong ...

The online daily Malikilé is growing impatient: " 

Should the ECOWAS continue to punish Malians for this reason, since it has itself accepted the principle of a vice-presidency and discussed with the CNSP until this day.

It is clear that a vice-president replaces a president.

Unless you remove the vice-presidency, which seems to emerge from the new demands of ECOWAS.

Of course, the ECOWAS is free to be inconsistent

, concludes Malikilé,

but it does not have the right to slowly kill Malians.

 "

… Or right?

For

Le Pays

au Burkina

, the ECOWAS, on the contrary, is right to maintain the sanctions: " 

The military junta has been cunning with the demands of ECOWAS to take back with the right hand, what it had ceded with the left hand

," believes the Ouagalais daily.

Indeed, to meet the requirement of a civilian president at the head of the transition, the putschists did not find better to call on a former brother in arms, ex-colonel Bah N'Daw.

Worse, they flanked this half-hearted civilian of the head of the junta who assigned himself the post of vice-president with superpowers.

The second reason for the maintenance of sanctions by the ECOWAS

, further points out

Le Pays, is that the military junta is dragging its feet in dissolving the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, in accordance with the requirements of the heads of state of the sub-regional organization.

In any case,

specifies

Today

, still in Burkina, " 

the heads of state and government of the ECOWAS could meet again very soon at the request of the president in office, the Ghanaian Nana Akufo-Addo, in order to shed light on the last gray areas on the political situation in Mali.

But as a foretaste of a forthcoming demand from the Malian military, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said that with around two-thirds of Mali under terrorist occupation,

"the military's priority should be to secure their country",

rather than retaining power.

 "

Breaking the cycle of violence and instability in the DRC

And then, another subject, another country: the violence in the DRC…

with this article to read in

Le Monde Afrique

.

Tribune signed Louise Arbor, the former Canadian High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights and Denis Mukwege, the Congolese doctor who won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. “ 

To put an end to the atrocities committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is imperative

, they stress,

to put an end to the impunity of their authors and instigators.

 "The two signatories believe that" 

the imperative to deliver justice is an essential prerequisite for breaking the cycle of violence and instability, and a sine qua non for moving forward on the path of sustainable development and peace. .

 "

To do this, they recommend following " 

the recommendations of the UN which proposes the establishment of an international criminal court for the DRC and the creation of specialized chambers within the Congolese courts.

 "

Finally, conclude Louise Arbor and Denis Mukwege, “ 

we salute the commitment of President Félix Tshisekedi, a political leader unrelated to past crimes, to fight impunity.

We encourage it to promote transitional justice mechanisms so that the victims of the most serious crimes committed since the early 1990s finally see their rights to justice, to the truth, to reparations and to guarantees of non-renewal. respected.

 "

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