ECOWAS leaders want immediate civilian transition in Mali
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Friday called for the establishment of immediate civilian transition in the country.
The leaders, at the end of their summit via videoconferencing on the Malian crisis, called for the immediate establishment of a civilian transition in consultation with the constitutional court, political parties, civil society organisations and all actors engaged in the process.
They also called for the nomination of a civilian to head the transition, insisting that such a person must not stand for the next presidential election, civilian prime minister, head of the government or be a candidate for presidential election.
The conference demanded also the immediate formation of a government to deal with the different challenges facing Mali.
These relate particularly to preparations for parliamentary and presidential elections within a period of 12 months.
It also demanded that no military organisation should be above the leader of the transition.
Additionally, the summit promised a progressive lifting of the sanctions issued in points 13(h) and 13(i) regarding the implementation of the above mentioned decisions.
The heads of state again insisted on the immediate conclusion of a deal on the political transition between ECOWAS and Mali.
They invited the African Union and the United-Nations to sponsor that deal and called for the establishment of a monitoring committee that includes a mediator, the president of the Council of Ministers and the chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, as well as representatives of the African Union and the United-Nations in Bamako.
"We have followed with great attention the report of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, mediator, whom we had given the mission to meet with the military junta officers to take to them the message of our community in view of a return as fast as possible to a normal institutional situation in Mali," Nigerien President Mahamadou Yssoufou, current ECOWAS chairman, said.
The military junta, who on 18 August deposed former President Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita and forced him to resign, had expressed the wish for a civilian transition for a period of two to three years to change the situation of the country.
On Saturday, the chairman of the National Committee for the People’s Salvation met with civil society organisations, political parties from the presidential majority and the opposition, who were signatories of the peace and reconciliation deal in Mali from the Algiers process, for talks on the organisation of the transition, reliable sources said.
-0- PANA GT/TBM/MSA/RA 28Aug2020
