ECOWAS mediator for Mali Goodluck Jonathan on 72-hour visit to Mali
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The mediator of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for Mali, and former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, arrived Monday in Bamako for a 72-hour working visit.
An official source said Jonathan was in Mali to inquire about the evolution of the transition process in the country.
As soon as he arrived in the Malian capital, Jonathan met with the Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Abdoulaye Diop.
The ECOWAS mediator is expected on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Independent Electoral Management Authority (AIGE), in charge of the general elections in Mali.
He will also meet with the international mediation of the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement resulting from the Algiers process and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Mali.
He will again have a working session with the Inter-ministerial Committee for the follow-up of the political and electoral timetable at the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, and will then meet with the Malian political class and civil society.
On Wednesday, he will visit the Constitutional Court and the National Transitional Council (CNT), the legislative body of the transition.
At the end of his stay, Jonathan will be received in audience by the President of the Transition, Colonel Assimi Goïta.
Jonathan's visit to Mali follows several others he made last year, after the lifting of the double sanction imposed on the country by ECOWAS and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) on 3 July 2022.
He began his good offices missions in Mali since July 2020 at the time of the popular protest against the regime of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, ousted from power in August of the same year by a military coup, paving the way for a transition period in Mali.
This visit comes a few days after the decision of the sub-regional organization to maintain the suspension of all its bodies from Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, three countries that are undergoing transitional regimes following military coups.
-0- PANA GT/JSG/BBA/RA 21Feb2023
