The leaders of West African states have decided to impose a financial asset freeze and a travel ban on members of the ruling junta in Guinea in the face of the military’s inflexibility on a date for the return of civilians to power, indicates a statement issued after an extraordinary summit Thursday, September 22.
The leaders of the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting Thursday in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly also decided “the suspension of all assistance and financial transactions in favor of Guinea by ECOWAS financial institutions“, says the final press release of the meeting consulted Friday by AFP.
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Member States will recall for consultations their ambassadors accredited to Guinea. ECOWAS gives Guinean authorities one month from September 22 to accept a delay “reasonable and acceptableto make way for elected civilians, “subject to more severe penalties“. ECOWAS has so far said it is ready to accept a transitional period of two years before the return of civilians to power. The junta which took over the country by force in September 2021 persists in wanting to stay there for three years.
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