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Sahel insecurity, post-coup sanctions loom large at ECOWAS summit | News


West African leaders are expected to discuss efforts to restore civilian rule in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

West African leaders are meeting in Ghana’s capital for an Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS) summit, where insecurity grows in the Sahel and questions about the bloc This will move to restore civilian rule after three separate military coups in the region. to loom large.

Sunday’s meeting in Accra comes as the number of armed attacks across the Sahel keep increasingwith the spiraling security crisis – fueled by the separatist movement in northern Mali in 2012 and security development The situation in the central region of the country caused by ISIL (ISIS) and groups affiliated with al-Qaeda – shows no sign of abating.

The violence, which has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger and the wider region, has displaced 2.5 million people over the past decade and raised fears of attacks spreading to other countries. West African coastal state, with analyst Adeeb Sanni telling Al Jazeera there were at least 19 attacks in Ivory CoastBenin and Togo in 2021, up from zero in 2019.

The situation became even more uncertain because withdraw money of French troops from Mali, where they have been stationed since 2013, and turn towards Russian mercenaries.

Critics also attribute continued violence in the region to poor governance following military-led coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea that strained relations with Western allies and regional organization.

At the ECOWAS summit, West African leaders are expected to evaluate effort to shorten the timetable and other guarantees for the restoration of civilian rule in the three countries, including possible sanctions.

Mali experienced military coups in August 2020 and May 2021, followed by Guinea in September 2021 and Burkina Faso in January 2022. All three have since been suspended from the bloc. and was not invited to Sunday’s meeting.

Follow The coup in 2021 In Mali, ECOWAS imposed a series of tough measures, including a trade and financial embargo, on the country after the military government announced it in January. five-year rule plan.

With sanctions straining Mali’s already despised economy, the military last week approved plans to hold presidential elections in February 2024. The vote will be held ahead of the referendum. referendum on the revised constitution in March 2023 and legislative elections in late 2023.

A representative of the ECOWAS mediation organization in Mali hailed the plan to AFP news agency as “tremendous progress”, but some critics have expressed concern about the new electoral law allowing officials from military government, including the coup leader. Colonel Assimi Goitato run for president.

For their part, Burkina Faso and Guinea have so far escaped harsher measures from ECOWAS, with the bloc refusing to issue a ruling on the sanctions at its June 4 meeting and instead let the The leader has an extra month to negotiate.

Burkina’s government led by the military proposed a constitutional referendum in December 2024 and legislative and presidential elections in February 2025.

Visiting Ouagadougou for the second time this month on Saturday, ECOWAS mediator and former Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou praised the head of the military-led government, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, and “openness.” dialogue” of his officials. However, political groups allied with ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore have rejected the plan.

Meanwhile, Guinea’s government led by the military rejected the ECOWAS mediator and instead announced a 36-month transition, a period that African Union and Senegalese President Macky Sall has described as “unthinkable.” .

However, the government following Guinea’s recent coup said it wanted to reassure its ECOWAS “brothers” of its commitment to a peaceful and comprehensive democratic transition.

Also expected to be discussed at Sunday’s summit are economic damage caused by high inflation and product shortages, which were caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and had little effect on Africa.



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