ECOWAS leaders to hold virtual meeting on Malian crisis on 27 July
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold an extraordinary summit on 27 July through videoconferencing to discuss the Malian crisis after five presidents of the sub-regional group who met on Thursday in the capital, Bamako, to find a solution to the serious socio-political crisis, rose without securing a breakthrough.
Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal, Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria listened to the different parties involved in the crisis at their meeting on Thursday.
After being briefed by the ECOWAS mediator on the Malian crisis, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who chaired a mission to Bamako from 15 to 19 July, they met Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita and Imam Mahmoud Dicko, the moral authority of Malian protesters seeking the resignation of the Malian leader.
They also met the leaders of the June 5-Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5-RFP) strategic committee, the main actor of the protests against the Malian President.
"We have decided to present a report to all ECOWAS leaders within the framework of an extraordinary summit convened for Monday, 27 July," President Issoufou told journalists, adding that "strong measures to help Mali" will be taken during that summit.
Imam Dicko told journalists that "the lines have not moved", promising an intensification of the protests after the Eid-el-Adha celebration.
The protesters are accusing President Kéita of "mismanagement" and "bad governance" of the multiple crisis that have engulfed Mali for many years.
The M5-RFP is demanding the resignation of president Kéita, but President Issoufou, the current chairman of ECOWAS, has described this as "a red line" not to be crossed.
The first two ECOWAS sessions (from 18 to 20 June) and (from 15 to 19 July) recommended, among other solutions, the "immediate" formation of a national unity government bringing together representatives of the majority coalition, the opposition and civil society organisations.
Those sessions also called for the composition of a new Constitutional Court to examine the electoral dispute surrounding the last parliamentary election.
-0- PANA GT/MSA/MA 24July2020
