The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS has sanctioned Mali’s transitional leaders and their families for failure to hold elections on time.
The West African regional bloc in a statement explained that this is coming following a summit in Ghana that the interim authorities had informed it of their inability to meet the transition deadline of February 2022. The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes on all members of the transitional authority as well as certain family members, the statement said, adding ECOWAS would consider additional sanctions in December if no progress is made.
It would be recalled that ECOWAS first imposed sanctions, including border closures, immediately after last year’s coup but lifted them less than two months later after the coup leaders agreed to the 18-month transition.
Mali’s interim government, which took power following the military’s overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020, had promised ECOWAS to oversee an 18-month transition back to democracy culminating in elections on February 27, 2022.
ECOWAS however warned Mali’s progress towards February polls insufficient, but it only made fitful progress towards organising the vote and repeatedly suggested it might be delayed, in part because of a continuing uprising by armed groups.
