Former President Good luck Jonathan has arrived in Bamako as the head of a high-level Economic Community of West African States’ ( ECOWAS) delegation that will mediate in the Malian transitional crisis. The delegation will hold talks with the Malian authorities, politicians, civil societies and the media. Jonathan will meet with Prime Minister Moctar Quane.
The two-day visit is a follow-up on the Conference of ECOWAS Heads of State on Mali held in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, months ago.
The ECOWAS mission is also expected to deal with other thorny issues in the life of the nation with the transitional authorities, particularly the holding of the future general elections, institutional and constitutional reforms.
The mission comes several months after the president and the vice-president of the transition were sworn in and the transitional organs were established.
It is also being made within a socio-political context strongly affected by the establishment of the National Transitional Council (NTC), harshly criticized by several political actors, especially over the thorny issue of an “alleged attempt of destabilization of the transition” involving former Prime Minister Boubou Cissé and several other senior officials of the country.
Besides, former President Goodluck Jonathan, the ECOWAS delegation also includes Ghanaian minister of foreign affairs, Mrs Ayorkor Botchway, and the chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, Ivorian Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
ECOWAS took strong measures against Mali following the coup d’état against President Boubacar Kéita on 18 August 2020.
Those measures, among others, included the closing of borders of ECOWAS member-states with Mali, and the suspension of the country from all ECOWAS activities. The sanctions were lifted after the military junta appointed a transitional president, retired general Bah Ndaw, and a civilian prime minister, Moctar Ouane.ECOWAS had demanded that the military rulers appoint a retired military or civilian transitional president and a civilian prime minister.
Similarly, a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in West Africa has charged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to prioritise its intervention in Mali over the crisis rocking the country. In the past, interventions by external bodies such as the United States of America, the European Union and the United Nations have focused exclusively on security and ignored the root causes of the crisis in Mali which is bad governance, corruption and poverty.