Leaders Of ECOWAS Lifts Economic, Financial Sanctions Imposed On Coup-Hit Mali

Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Sunday lifted economic and financial sanctions imposed on Mali, after the ruling military council proposed a 24-month transition to democracy timeline, reported Africa News.

The West African regional bloc also approved Burkina Faso’s proposed transition timetable and gave Guinea an additional one-month reprieve to present an acceptable timetable.

Burkina faced a coup last January after Guinea in September 2021 and Mali in August 2020 and May 2021.

The bloc had imposed stiff sanctions on Mali in January after the military leaders failed to organize democratic elections in February as initially planned.

During a news conference on Sunday, the ECOWAS Commission President Jean Claude Kassi Brou said that the sanctions will be lifted immediately. He said borders with Mali will reopen and regional diplomats will return to Bamako.

“However, the heads of state decided to maintain individual sanctions, and the suspension of Mali from ECOWAS, until the return to constitutional rule,” Kassi Brou said.

The individual sanctions were imposed on members of the ruling military government and the transitional council.

The decision to lift the sanctions was taken after the ECOWAS mediator in Mali, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, visited the country last week.

On Friday, Mali’s top diplomat Abdoulaye Diop said the recent political developments were moving the country towards a lifting of the sanctions.

Burkina Faso, another Sahel country struggling to control jihadist turmoil, had so far only been suspended from the bodies of the 15-nation bloc.

Burkina’s junta proposed a constitutional referendum in December 2024 and legislative and presidential elections in February 2025, which was approved.

Kassi Brou said the suspension of all three nations from ECOWAS would remain in force until they hold elections.

During the summit, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, president of Guinea-Bissau, was elected as new chairman of the bloc.