ECOWAS leaders mount pressure on Mali to return to Civilian rule

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has urged the military junta in Mali to, within days, hand over to a civilian administration in steering the country back into constitutional rule.

The Chairman of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Governments, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said sanctions imposed on Mali would be lifted when the military junta hands over to a civilian body to steer the process.

Days after the military coup in Mali on August 18, this year, ECOWAS, of which Mali is a member, placed sanctions on the country.

All ECOWAS member states closed their borders with Mali, suspended all financial flows between its 14 other member states and Mali and also suspended Mali from its internal decision-making bodies.

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Addressing the media immediately after the consultative meeting on the political situation in Mali, the ECOWAS chairperson, President Akufo-Addo said the situation required a quick resolution.

 He said it was important, more than anything else, that Mali was managed by a civilian administration that could begin the process of normalising things.

President Akufo-Addo said if the civilian government was put in place, ECOWAS would also organise resistance to any terrorist menace.

"That was the reason I decided that it will be a good thing for us to meet face-to-face with the military leaders in Mali, so we could talk eyeball to eyeball. It has happened, I believe in a successful manner," he added.

The meeting, which was convened by President Akufo-Addo in his capacity as the Chairman of the regional body, attracted eight Presidents and representatives of the remaining Heads of State, as well as the Malian junta, known as the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (NCSP), led by Col Assimi Goita.