LLifting, maintaining or tightening sanctions? West African leaders are meeting in Accra on Sunday to review their plan of action against the juntas that came to power by force in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
At the last summit on June 4, no decision had been taken. “We have decided to revisit the subject during this ordinary summit,” Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said at the opening of the session in the presence of the leaders of most of the 15 member countries of the Economic Community of States. West Africa (ECOWAS), but without an official representative of the three main parties concerned.
“ECOWAS remains committed to supporting these sister nations to return to a normal constitutional and democratic order. We will hear from the mediators on the latest developments in these countries to take the appropriate decisions,” he said, before the start of the talks. work behind closed doors.
The West African heads of state must in particular decide on Mali, which since January 9 has suffered severe commercial and financial retaliation measures and which recently accepted the prerequisites essential to their lifting.
Burkina, another Sahelian country caught in the jihadist turmoil, and Guinea are currently only suspended from ECOWAS bodies. But the juntas in place intend to stay there for three years and expose their country to tougher sanctions.
For two years, West Africa has seen a succession of coups by colonels and lieutenant-colonels: putsch on August 18, 2020 in Bamako, new fait accompli completing the first on May 24, 2021, putsch on September 5, 2021 in Conakry, putsch on January 24, 2022 in Ouagadougou.
ECOWAS, alarmed at the risk of contagion in a vulnerable region, is increasing summits, mediations and pressure to accelerate the return of civilians to the leadership of these countries.
“Progress”
The decision on the lifting of the embargo on commercial and financial transactions is eagerly awaited in Mali, exhausted by ten years of conflict, and where negotiations between the junta and ECOWAS have been going on for months.
Mediator Goodluck Jonathan, former president of Nigeria, came to Bamako last week. If nothing has officially filtered exchanges, a member of his entourage told AFP that “Mali has made enormous progress”.
The authorities announced on Wednesday an electoral calendar fixing the presidential election in February 2024, the constitutional referendum in March 2023, and the legislative elections between October and November 2023.
It completes the adoption on June 17 of a new electoral law and the establishment of a commission responsible for drafting the new Constitution.
A potential blocking point in the negotiations may nevertheless remain with the door now open, by the new electoral law, of a candidacy of a soldier in a presidential election.
Guinea this week waged an intense diplomatic campaign to appease West African leaders and avoid further sanctions.
The junta had aroused the ire of its neighbors by enacting a transition period of 36 months. A delay described as “unthinkable” by the Senegalese head of state Macky Sall, current president of the African Union.
“ECOWAS will have to take action,” he said.
Dialogues
Transitional Prime Minister Mohamed Béavogui received on Saturday the United Nations Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Mahamat Saleh Annadif.
Guinea’s message is to reassure “the brothers of ECOWAS” on the country’s commitment to leading a peaceful and inclusive transition, the government stressed.
On Monday, the government also received the main political formations in order to initiate a dialogue. Several political movements have conditioned their participation on the appointment of a West African mediator.
In Burkina Faso, ECOWAS has appointed a mediator, the former Nigerien president Mahamadou Issoufou, despite his “concern” at the 36 months planned for the transition. “We are on the way to compromise” with this country, a diplomat from the sub-region told AFP.
On a visit to Ouagadougou on Saturday, Mr. Issoufou hailed the military’s “openness to dialogue” and said he had “discussed the transition timetable” presented to political leaders on Wednesday.
The Burkinabè authorities are planning the dates of December 24, 2024 for a constitutional referendum and February 25, 2025 for the holding of legislative and presidential elections.
On Friday, the parties of the former majority of the overthrown President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré denounced the agenda presented by the junta as a “solitary maneuver which contrasts with the imperatives of an inclusive and successful transition”, regretting “the absence upstream consultations”.
03/07/2022 15:17:31 – Accra (AFP) – © 2022 AFP