Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders lifted economic and financial sanctions imposed on Mali after its military leaders proposed a 24-month transition to democracy and published a new electoral law. The bloc imposed tough sanctions on Mali in January after the military government said it would not hold democratic elections next month as originally planned. ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Cassie Brut said at a press conference on Sunday that the sanctions would be lifted immediately. The border with Mali will reopen and regional diplomats will return to Bamako. “However, the heads of state decided to maintain the individual sanctions and the suspension of Mali from ECOWAS, until the return to constitutional power,” said Cassie Bru. The individual sanctions targeted members of the ruling military government and the transitional council. Sanctions have crippled Mali’s economy, raising humanitarian concerns amid widespread suffering. The country has defaulted on more than $300 million of its debt because of the sanctions, which have cut it off from the regional financial market and the regional central bank. The ECOWAS Mali mediator, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, visited the country last week. A member of his entourage told the AFP news agency that Mali had made “tremendous progress”. Mali’s top diplomat, Abdoulaye Diop, said on Friday that recent political developments are moving the country towards lifting sanctions.
Transitions of Burkina Faso and Guinea
ECOWAS leaders gathered to assess efforts to secure timetables and other guarantees for the restoration of political sovereignty in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso. Mali suffered coups in August 2020 and May 2021, followed by Guinea in September 2021 and Burkina Faso this January. West African leaders meeting in Accra also accepted a commitment by the army that seized power in Burkina Faso to restore constitutional order in 24 months. Cassie Bru said that after a long discussion with the coup plotters in Burkina Faso, a new proposal for a 24-month transition was more acceptable, after the heads of state rejected a proposed 36-month transition. Economic and financial sanctions against Burkina Faso also came, he said. The situation appears more complicated in Guinea, whose military government has rejected an ECOWAS mediator and announced a 36-month transition – a period African Union and Senegalese President Macky Sall described as “unthinkable”. ECOWAS leaders rejected the three-year transition. They told Guinea’s military to propose a new timetable by the end of July or face financial sanctions. The heads of state appointed former Benin president Boni Yayi as the new mediator and urged Guinea’s military government to work with him and quickly propose a new timetable. “Beyond that, there will be financial penalties,” said Cassie Brew. The political turmoil came as many observers began to believe that military power grabs are a thing of the past in West Africa, an increasingly restive region that also faces a growing threat from armed groups. Some leaders speaking at the one-day Accra summit urged action as armed groups expand their footprint in the region. “These terrorist attacks are now not only focused on the Sahel, but are also expanding to the coastal states of our region,” said Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo. “It is imperative that we continue to implement our regional counter-terrorism action plan and coordinate our various security initiatives.” In the first half of 2022, the region recorded a total of 3,500 deaths from 1,600 attacks targeting countries such as Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, according to Kassi Brou. In Burkina Faso, where attacks blamed on armed groups are soaring, gunmen killed at least 55 people in the country’s northern Seno province last month.
