The head of the Guinean junta arrived in Mali on Wednesday, September 21, a trip which comes on the eve of the independence day of this neighbor, but also of a diplomatic meeting fraught with stakes for the two countries.

This visit by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the first outside the borders since he and his men took power by force in September 2021, only gave rise to public communication after his arrival.

Colonel Doumbouya "was welcomed, with all honors, on his descent from the presidential plane of the Republic of Mali, by President (Assimi) Goïta", head of the Malian junta, indicated the services of the latter in a press release which evokes a "visit of friendship and work".

>> "Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso... the temptation of a coup in West Africa"

The Malian authorities sent the plane to pick up Colonel Doumbouya in Conakry.

Photos released by the authorities of Mali show the two men in fatigues and beret performing the military salute.

"I am in Bamako next to my brother, President Assimi Goïta, to celebrate the independence of Mali and support the Malian people, who are a brotherly people," said Colonel Doumbouya, quoted in the press release.

Mali celebrates the 62nd anniversary of its independence on Thursday.

The same day must be held, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, an extraordinary summit of the organization of West African States (ECOWAS) which should be mainly devoted to Guinea and Mali.

Coups

Mali, twice, and Guinea are part, with Burkina Faso, of the ECOWAS countries where the military has seized power over the past two years.

The summit is expected to consider how to respond to the Guinean military's plan to hold the country's helm for three years before handing over to elected civilians.

The current president of ECOWAS, the Bissau-Guinean Umaro Sissoco Embalo, warned on Wednesday that Guinea was facing "heavy sanctions" if the junta persisted in this plan.

ECOWAS imposed a severe commercial and financial embargo on Mali in January to sanction the military's plan to stay in power for up to five more years.

The junta led by Colonel Assimi Goïta has since pledged under pressure to hold elections in February 2024, and ECOWAS has lifted the embargo.

But Mali and Guinea remain suspended from ECOWAS bodies.

With regard to Mali, it is above all the fate of 46 Ivorian soldiers arrested on July 10 on their arrival in Bamako and detained since then who should occupy ECOWAS.

The case has further deteriorated the already strained relations between Bamako and Abidjan.

The Malian junta describes these soldiers as "mercenaries" and accuses them of wanting to attack state security.

Côte d'Ivoire assures that they came on a mission for the UN and denounces "a hostage-taking".

The Guinean authorities had been among the few to show solidarity with Mali in the face of the sanctions, and had kept the borders open.

With AFP

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