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by Cooper Inveen
ACCRA, March 25 (Reuters) – Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are ready to accept a transitional military government in Mali for another 12 to 16 months, the head of the Commission said on Friday. of the Cdao following an Accra summit.
The West African bloc also gave Guinea’s ruling junta until April 25 to present a democratic transition timetable and asked Burkina Faso’s interim leaders to reduce their transition timetable to a “more acceptable” timeframe than the 36 months announced so far, said Jean-Claude Kassi Brou during a press conference.
The Cdao has repeatedly condemned the military coups that took place in Mali in August 2020 and May 2021, in Guinea in September 2021 and in Burkina Faso last January, and is working to promote the return of civilian power.
“Our democratic values must be preserved”, underlined Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
The CDAO has imposed sanctions on Mali and Guinea that are slow to restore constitutional order.
Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said on Friday that these sanctions would be gradually lifted in Mali if leaders respect the 12-16 month period. He also warned that Guinea would face new sanctions if it fails to meet the April 25 deadline.
Mali’s junta, which initially promised to hold elections in February this year, pushed back the deadline to at least 2025, before reducing the transition period to 24 months.
Guinea, where President Alpha Cond was overthrown, has not presented any transition plan, an uncertainty which is creating tensions in the region and inside the country, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou deplored.
In Burkina Faso, the junta proposed to hand over power after three years. So far spared from punitive measures, it will be sanctioned if it does not release former president Roch Kabor by next month, warned the president of the ECOWAS Commission. (Cooper Inveen and Christian Akorlie report; French version Jean-Stphane Brosse)