NEWS: ECOWAS may lift Mali’s sanctions on Friday

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 08:22 am

The West African bloc ECOWAS will probable figure out on Friday whether or not to carry probably crippling sanctions imposed on Mali after last month’s coup, its mediator said.

The mediator, Nigerian former president Goodluck Jonathan, known as the 15-nation bloc’s sanctions “unfortunate” during a go to to Mali’s capital Bamako on Wednesday.

West African leaders have heaped pressure on the ruling army junta to return energy to civilians considering the coup toppled president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18.

ECOWAS has used the sanctions, which include closing borders and limiting trade, as leverage in negotiations with the junta.

ECOWAS said at a summit on September 15 that the sanctions would be lifted as soon as its prerequisites had been met, together with the appointment of a civilian president and high minister.

But the junta has yet to respond to different ECOWAS demands, such as the launch of other officials detained for the duration of the coup such as ousted prime minister Boubou Cisse.

Economist Etienne Fakaba Sissoko stated that the sanctions — coupled with the coronavirus pandemic — meant that Mali used to be barrelling into a recession. “The instantaneous end result is a reduction in public expenditure.

This has a direct affect on the population,” he said. Before the coup, the Sahel country had already been dealing with an economic downturn, aggravated via the jihadist insurgency and chronic inter-ethnic violence.

It used to be frustrations over this intractable battle — plus monetary issues and perceived corruption — which spurred anti-Keita protesters onto the streets this year, with the constructing unrest culminating in the coup.

(AFP)