ECOWAS leaders who met in Niamey, Niger on Monday have given
the military junta in Mali until Sept. 15 to name a transitional president and
a prime minister, according to a statement read at the end of a summit on
Monday.
The 15-nation bloc said the president and prime minister,
who will lead the transitional government, should be civilians.
The meeting maintained the sanctions it imposed on Mali in
the aftermath of the coup.
But it also welcomed steps taken by the junta in the past
week to start talks with Mali’s political parties and civil society groups over
the transition.
ECOWAS closed its borders with landlocked Mali and halted
financial flows amid concerns that the military coup could undermine the
democratic gains in the region.
A group of army colonels has ruled Mali since ousting
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Aug. 18.
No consensus has yet been reached on the make-up and
duration of a transitional government ahead of promised elections.
ECOWAS is calling for a swift return to civilian rule and a
vote within a year, a timeline the junta, the National Committee for the
Salvation of the People (CNSP), has not committed to.
ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, said
both the president and prime minister must be appointed by Sept. 15 at the
latest.
Talks in the capital Bamako about the transition period got
off to a bumpy start on Saturday, when supporters of the influential M5-RFP
political coalition accused the junta of sidelining them.
The junta’s negotiations, which are also being held in
regional capitals across Mali, will continue later this week.
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