Mali’s military junta on Wednesday said it is making moves to appoint an interim president, after West African leaders threatened a total embargo on the landlocked country, reported Africa News.
On Tuesday, the leaders of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gave one week time to the military junta to appoint a civilian interim president and prime minister without delay or negotiations in Mali, given the terrorist threat and an embargo imposed on the country by neighboring states.
ECOWAS also demanded the dissolution of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) once the civil transition begins. It said it would lift sanctions once civilian leaders were in place and appeared to accept the junta’s 18-month timetable for the transition after previously insisting on elections within a year.
Speaking to reporters, junta spokesman Colonel Ismael Wague said the West African leaders have threatened to impose a total embargo beginning at midnight Sept. 23 if in case no interim president is appointed within the given deadline.
“We returned around 2 a.m. and already this morning we have started to put in place the electors, which means we are sensitive to ECOWAS’s ultimatum,” said Wague.
“They say they can still toughen (the sanctions), because so far the food, the fuel is going through,” he said. “They say they can make a total embargo. Nothing goes in, nothing comes out.”
According to a transitional charter approved at multi-party talks, the interim president can be a soldier or a civilian and will be chosen by electors selected by the junta. The ruling junta announced a plan that would allow a military leader to oversee an 18-month transitional period but this wasn’t accepted by the opposition groups.
The junta has also set up a transition implementation office on Wednesday to quickly design transition bodies in Mali.
