Malian President
West African delegation ‘very hopeful’ after meeting Mali junta
A West African delegation visiting Mali to push for a speedy return to civilian rule following a coup said it was “very hopeful” on Saturday after meeting with the country’s military junta and the president it ousted. The head of the delegation from the regional Ecowas bloc, former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, said that detained Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was doing relatively well. “We saw him, he’s very fine,” said Jonathan, who had earlier met for half an hour with the soldiers who seized power on Tuesday, including new strongman Colonel Assimi Goita. Jonathan told AFP that negotiations were going well and he was “very hopeful”. Rebel soldiers seized Keita and other leaders after a mutiny on Tuesday, dealing another deep blow to a country already struggling with a b...
ECOWAS calls for restoration of ousted Malian president, sanctions against putschists
West African leaders under the regional bloc ECOWAS have said they would dispatch envoys to Mali to help secure “the return of constitutional order”. In a video conference on Thursday, they called for the ousted Malian president to be restored to office. “We have decided to immediately send a high-level delegation in order to ensure the immediate return of constitutional order,” the regional bloc ECOWAS said at the end of a video summit. “We call for the restoration of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita as president,” it said in a closing statement read by the president of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, who chairs the group. “Mali is in a critical situation, with serious risks that a collapse of the state and institutions leads to reversals in the fight against terrorism and organised crime, wit...
