President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, has called for an immediate convergence of the Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS for decisive action in the face of the recent military coup in Mali.
Akufo-Addo, who is the Chairman of the Authority, appealed on Thursday in Abuja for the opening of the first 2021 extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that on May 25, the second time in nine months, Colonel Assimi Goita regained power in Mali, detaining the transitional President, Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane.
Goita had accused the interim president and the prime minister of having failed in their duties.
The President, who also expressed concern over development, said ECOWAS had spent a lot of political and material resources to restore democracy in Mali after the last junta in 2020.
“I think we should appeal to the immediate Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS”.
“The body is responsible for smoothing out the transitional arrangements to decide the way forward for ECOWAS and Mali”
“The Community will be kept informed as the situation develops,” Akufo-Addo said.
He noted, however, that as Chairman of the Authority, he had already sent a high-level mediation team led by former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, to address the crises.
He said he had not yet received any reports on the situation, however.
“We condemn the unfortunate situation in Mali in which ECOWAS has invested a large part of its political and material resources”.
“As the current President of the Authority, I authorized an ECOWAS delegation including a high level mediator in the Malian crises led by the former President of the Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan”.
“Others are the Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Botchway, who is also president of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Brou, to have access to the situation and make me report, ”he said.
According to him, due to the rains which affected the weather conditions for travel, the authority has not yet received a first-hand report on the situation.
He assured that the Community would be fully informed of developments in the situation.
The President of the ECOWAS Parliament, Hon. Sidie Tunis, said parliament also strongly condemned the military takeover in Mali, saying the recurring junta in the country was a threat to democracy in the region.
Tunis said Parliament, like other ECOWAS institutions, had taken several steps to restore democratic rule in Mali.
“Earlier this year, I led a parliamentary fact-finding mission to this country and had discussions with all stakeholders in the transition process”.
“We have been assured by all parties of their commitment to a transition to democratic rule”.
“Unfortunately, a few days ago we observed a dramatic change in the political situation, which led to the arrest of the transitional president, His Excellency Bah N’Daw and of the Prime Minister, Mr. Moctar Ouane”, a he declared.
According to him, the ECOWAS Parliament condemns, in the strongest terms, the military takeover in Mali and all acts in the region that threaten or block the process of entrenching democracy in our States.
“We have made many efforts to ensure a peaceful and stable ECOWAS and it is high time that we take firm and decisive action against the forces that tend to reverse this trend”.
“The ECOWAS Parliament is ready to support all efforts aimed at putting Mali on the right path of peace and democracy,” he said.
Also speaking, Brou said that ECOWAS had engaged the current authorities in Mali for the immediate release of the former acting president and former acting prime minister.
Brou said the mediation team would inform the President of the Authority of its findings and that the ECOWAS Community would be kept informed of all interventions. (NOPE)