ECOWAS at summit in New York on Guinea and Mali, under threat of "heavy sanctions"

The president of Guinea-Bissau and current president of ECOWAS Umaro Sissoco Embalo, during the last summit of the organization, in Accra on July 3, 2022. © Nipah Dennis / AFP

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2 mins

A long-awaited ECOWAS summit is being held Thursday, September 22 at the end of the day in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Convened on the initiative of the Bissau-Guinean presidency, it will be mainly devoted to the situations in Guinea and Mali, sources of tension between the regional organization and the two capitals.

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With our special correspondent in New York,

Léonard Vincent

Ultimately, the extraordinary ECOWAS summit is going to be the African event of this UN General Assembly.

It was insistently requested by the Bissau-Guinean presidency and it will be held in a building adjacent to the United Nations, at the end of the afternoon.

On the agenda, according to the President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo: " 

the re-examination of

the situation in Guinea and Mali

 ", a source of tension between the regional organization and the two capitals.

Because if the current president of the organization has expressed his satisfaction with the transition in Burkina Faso - which he says " 

respects the roadmap

 " agreed with ECOWAS -, it is not the same with the authorities of transition from Guinea and Mali.

That's why he wanted this extraordinary summit in New York.

“ 

Heavy sanctions

 ” are “ 

on the table

 ”

This will be an opportunity for former Beninese President Thomas Boni Yayi, ECOWAS mediator, to brief the Heads of State on

his recent mission to Conakry at the end of August

 : he should list the points of agreement and disagreement. with the authorities of the Guinean transition and make recommendations to Conakry and to the Member States.

The major disagreement concerns

the length of the transition

.

For President Embalo, the agreed 24 months are “ 

not negotiable

 ” and the possibility of “ 

heavy sanctions

 ” is “ 

on the table

 ”.

With regard to Mali,

the point of tension is the question of the 46 Ivorian soldiers

detained since July 10, whose

immediate release Côte d'Ivoire is asking for

.

But also the application of the timetable established in Accra in July, at the same time as the lifting of the sanctions affecting Bamako and which should "

lead to elections and the restoration of a civilian regime

" by 2024.

► To read, listen and watch also: Umaro Sissoco Embalo: "The 46 Ivorian soldiers are not mercenaries"

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  • ECOWAS

  • mali

  • Guinea

  • Umaro Sissoco Embalo

  • United States

  • UN