Efforts to revive civilian rule and stability in Mali seem to have hit a snag, because the military junta denounced decisions by the regional bloc ECOWAS on how the country's transition should go forward. The coup leader insists the junta just isn't sidelined.
Coup leader Amadou Sanogo said late Saturday the junta was not consulted on decisions made at a up to date ECOWAS meeting in Abidjan, and that Mali is sticking to the accord soldiers signed with ECOWAS in early April.
That agreement set out a 40-day term for an interim civilian government. Sanogo has held that the junta would then step in and work with ECOWAS at the remainder of the transition. But at their April 26th meeting ECOWAS leaders declared the transition would last one year, in which elections will be organized.
Coup leader Sanogo told reporters what stands is the agreement the junta signed with ECOWAS. So far as we're concerned, he says, nothing has changed and nothing will change.
Sanogo later made the declaration on state television.
Signed two weeks after the March 22nd coup d'état amid pressure of harsh ECOWAS sanctions, the sooner accord - which was called a “framework†- was vague at the junta's role within the transition. ECOWAS said that some of the main aims of the meeting last week will be to elucidate this.
The junta's role, West African leaders declared on the meeting, is to go back to the barracks and tackle their mission of shielding the rustic. The regional bloc also said ECOWAS would send troops to Mali to support the transition and help Mali restore its territorial integrity, following the rebel takeover of the north.
The junta for weeks has rejected the proposition of ECOWAS troops entering Mali, saying the country's military needs only financial and logistical support.
Sanogo's denunciation on Saturday followed a gathering with ECOWAS envoys at junta headquarters in Kati, just outside Mali's capital Bamako. A reporter who was at the scene said armed soldiers shouted "down with ECOWAS" because the officials got into their cars after the meeting.
ECOWAS Commissioner Kadré Desiré Ouédraogo said on the Abidjan meeting that Mali junta members could be sanctioned for any actions aimed toward clinging to power.Â
From WhatNewsToday.net
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