BAMAKO / LONDON (Reuters) – An important meeting on Saturday between Mali’s coups and West African regional bloc mediators seeking a return to civilian rule ended just 20 minutes later.
Tuesday’s reversal of Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been condemned abroad but celebrated by many in a country struggling with an Islamist uprising and months of political unrest.
A delegation from the Economic Community of 15 Nations of West African States (ECOWAS) arrived earlier in the capital Bamako for talks aimed at reversing Keita’s reversal.
The bloc has taken a hard line on the coup, closing borders and stopping financial flows – a diplomat from a movement said it was as much about warning opponents at home as stabilizing Mali.
Ahead of a series of meetings with the mutineers and other groups, the head of the delegation, the former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, sounded optimistic.
“I believe at the end of the day we will come up with something that is best for the people and good for ECOWAS and the international community,” he told reporters.
The most anticipated meeting was held at the Ministry of Defense, where ECOWAS mediators sat in face masks at a long table opposite junta leader Assimi Goita, who wore a desert camouflage uniform and was flanked by other military officers in berets and fatigues, showed photos on Twitter.
The talks were set to last 90 minutes, according to a preliminary ECOWAS schedule, seen by Reuters. But the meeting ended after just 20 minutes, a Reuters reporter said.
It was not clear if the schedule was changed or talks were cut short. ECOWAS and the interns, who call themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), have not yet commented on the talks.
The CNSP has been controlling the country since Tuesday, when the mutiners detained Keita at gunpoint and forced him to be fired. They have promised to control a transition to elections within a “reasonable” time.
Keita’s oyster, known as IBK, was welcomed by many in Mali, who were shaken by months of protests demanding his dismissal over alleged corruption and strengthening security in areas where branches of al- Qaida and Islamic State are active.
TRIENGAS
The presidents of Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea are among those pushing for the strong ECOWAS response, said one diplomat, as both violent public protests have opposed their bids in the third term and want the bloc to show that it does not gets power in his own backyard.
‘They can not tolerate this happening. They take it very personally. It is at their doorstep and they think they are next, ”said a second regional diplomat.
After three days of post-coup calm in the capital Bamako, police used tear gas earlier on Saturday when a rift broke out between a group of 50 pro-Keita protesters and local residents who threw stones, a Reuters source said.
“Re-establishing IBK is out of the question. The only thing they (the delegation) can achieve is the transition. Under ECOWAS rules, ECOWAS would have to delay the transition, ”said one of the diplomats, referring to the outcome of the delegation’s visit.
On Friday, thousands of coups gathered in a central square in Bamako to celebrate the takeover. There is no outward sign that ECOWAS ‘suspension of financial relations is still being felt.
Report by Paul Lorgerie and David Lewis; Additional Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo and Idrissa Sangare; Written by Alessandra Prentice; Edited by James Drummond and Mark Potter
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