A delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met with Mali’s newly appointed Prime Minister Choguel Maiga on Monday in the second of a two-day visit by the members of the West African bloc to Bamako, reported Africa News.
The meeting was attended by ECOWAS mediator, Goodluck Jonathan, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Brou Kassi, and Malian Prime Minister Maiga.
Kassi told reporters that Maiga had assured to fulfill the commitments made by interim President Colonel Assimi Goita on Tuesday.
Maiga said that the new Mali government would within six weeks present the actions to be taken. He added that Mali’s partners will back the government as they have always done when the African country has gone through rough times.
“In a few weeks, we will come back to the Malians and then to the international community, to indicate the firm determination to go through with the transition, which should be a successful transition, after having resolved or addressed all the issues and difficulties that were at the root of the change that we have experienced,” Mali’s prime minister said.
Two weeks ago, Goita ousted the interim president and prime minister after a cabinet reshuffle was announced that sidelined two junta supporters without consulting him.
Mali’s constitutional court approved Goita as interim president and he was sworn as president of the transitional government on Monday.
The African Union and ECOWAS suspended Mali’s membership to exert pressure on Goita to step aside after he carried out his second coup in nine months.
When asked if ECOWAS will lift or keep the suspension of Mali from the group, Kassi said that the decision has to be taken by the heads of the bloc’s member states. He said that the group has insisted on the release of the now-former president and prime minister who were detained by the military in May.
“We have insisted on allowing them (former president and prime minister) to be free again. I think we were given assurances and that has been done. They are now at home. And so, we think there is no problem at that level,” Kassi said.
The bloc and the AU have made clear that the head of the transitional government, the vice president, and the prime minister should not under any circumstances be candidates in the next presidential election expected to take place in February next year.
