Mali: ECOWAS in Bamako to try to fix the duration of the transition for good

Mali, May 25, 2021. Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is the ECOWAS mediator in the Malian crisis.

REUTERS - AMADOU KEITA

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The delegation led by the Nigerian Goodluck Jonathan should arrive in the Malian capital at the end of the morning to participate in several working sessions today and Friday.

The duration of the extension of the transition period will once again be at the heart of the discussions between the mediator of the West African Economic Community and the Malian authorities, who are seeking to agree on a "

 ". 

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Goodluck Jonathan will meet the members of the Local Transition Monitoring Committee - the representatives in Bamako of the African Union, ECOWAS and Minusma -, as well as diplomats stationed in the Malian capital and of course the transitional authorities : meetings are planned with several ministers (Foreign Affairs and Territorial Administration in particular) and with the transitional president, Colonel Assimi Goïta, according to a draft program still being finished this Wednesday. 

Mali wants to obtain as soon as possible the lifting of the economic and financial sanctions imposed since January 9 by ECOWAS, which is seeking to prevent the military perpetrators of the August 2020 coup from remaining too long in the country. power.

Sixteen, twelve or nine months?

For this, the two parties must agree on a "

" for the organization of future presidential and legislative elections.

At the end of December, the Malian authorities of transition had proposed five years, then four more years, time necessary, according to them, to carry out many reforms before organizing elections.

This had been deemed unacceptable by ECOWAS.

Since then, Bamako has said it is ready to find a compromise. 

In recent days, new suggestions have been launched, like so many trial balloons: Algeria, which had offered its mediation services, is pleading for a maximum of sixteen months, as is the African Union.

The current president of ECOWAS, the Ghanaian Nana Akufo-Addo, judges that twelve months would be “ 

”.

Another suggestion, that of the Framework which brings together the Malian opposition parties: they recommend an extension limited to nine months, a sufficient period, according to these parties, to organize elections.

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• mali

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