Sanctions: decisive ECOWAS summit in Accra

The flags of ECOWAS member countries during a summit of the organization in Accra, Ghana, on February 3, 2022. AFP - NIPAH DENNIS

Text by: David Baché

3 mins

The West African organization had postponed until July 3 the decisions related to the sanctions to be lifted or taken for Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

The three countries have redoubled their efforts in recent weeks to prove their good will.

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From our special correspondent in Accra

For Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mali, the ECOWAS summit which opens this Sunday in Accra is decisive.

The first two cities are indeed under the threat of possible economic sanctions, the three-year transition they propose before the return to constitutional order being considered far too long by the heads of state of the sub-region.

For Mali, it is quite the opposite.

Bamako hopes that

will finally be lifted.

The disappointments of previous summits call for caution, but whether among West African diplomatic sources or on the side of Malian leaders, optimism prevails on the eve of the summit.

A possible compromise

It must be said that the Malian transitional authorities have redoubled their efforts to demonstrate their commitment not to drag on in power.

At the beginning of the week, they notably announced the calendar of future municipal, regional (June 2023), legislative (October 2023) and above all presidential (February 2024) elections which will mark the end of the transition period, by March 2024.

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This is a longer period than the initial requirements of ECOWAS – opposed to an extension of the transition beyond 16 months – but which could be enough to wrest a compromise.

Especially since Bamako has also set up a commission responsible for drafting the new Constitution, initiated a dialogue with the political class which has been demanding it for a long time and has also adopted a new electoral law.

According to Malian electoral experts, this law could however allow a candidacy of the current transitional president, Colonel Assimi Goïta.

Also, in this home stretch, Bamako and ECOWAS notably discussed the monitoring mechanism to be put in place for the end of the transition period.

Last major issue: the extent of the lifting of the sanctions which, if it were enacted, could not be total, but progressive, depending on the concretization of the Malian commitments.

Situation more tense in Guinea

The situation is more tense for Guinea.

The transitional authorities have finally opened a dialogue with the political class, but the main formations do not consider it credible.

The legal proceedings targeting former officials of the Alpha Condé regime, the ban on demonstrations and above all the announced three-year delay before the organization of elections continue to worry the Heads of State of the sub-region who have already threatened to impose economic sanctions on the country, in addition to the targeted sanctions already imposed on the leaders of the military transition.

As for Burkina, if ECOWAS remains worried about the deterioration of security in the territory and continues to reject the three years demanded by the new authorities before the organization of elections, the dialogue is considered satisfactory and could arouse more indulgence from the part of the West African organization.

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• ECOWAS

• mali

• Burkina Faso

• Guinea