West Africa’s mediator in the Mali crisis, Goodluck Jonathan, said it was imperative for the country to return to democratic rule as soon as possible.
He made the comments a day after Mali’s army-dominated legislature approved a plan allowing the military that seized power in August 2020 to stay in office for another five years, despite regional sanctions.
Jonathan also questioned the legitimacy of Mali’s parliament, the National Transitional Council that was hit by ECOWAS sanctions last November.
Jonathan, who is a former president of Nigeria, was speaking after an ECOWAS workshop in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos.
In a statement, he said the council found that poor educational systems in the region were linked to the instability.
