BAMAKO (Reuters) – West African presidents plan to fly to Mali as regional powers escalate efforts to overthrow a coup, two sources said after an opposition coalition joined the junta in rejecting foreign interference.
A screenshot shows a teleconference during the Extraordinary Summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government on the Socio-Political Situation in Mali 20 August 2020. ECOWAS / Handout via REUTERS
Leaders of the Economic Community of 15 Nations of West African States (ECOWAS) rallied on Thursday over the crisis, following the halting of Mali, border closures and halted financial flows in response to Tuesday’s reversal of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
The bloc intends to send a delegation of presidents including the leaders of Niger, Senegal and Ghana to the capital of Mali, Bamako, to seek a solution to the crisis, a regional diplomat and a senior official told Reuters.
It was not immediately possible to confirm the information.
The coup, which already has a country in the grip of a jihadist uprising and civil unrest, has met with almost universal condemnation abroad.
Within Mali, the M5-RFP coalition of opposition groups said it was working with the mutineers. It marked the first reaction of ECOWAS to the overreaction to coups, stemming from the fears of some regional leaders that it could put unrest in their countries.
“(The leaders) are on an all-out drive to set up ECOWAS against Mali,” said Nouhoum Togo, M5 RFP spokesman.
The capital Bamako was calm on Thursday for the second straight day, a Reuters reporter said, as people appeared on earlier calls by junta spokesman Colonel Ismael Wague to return to work and go about their daily lives.
Marc-Andre Boisvert, an independent researcher on the Malian security forces, said the senior mutineers were all respected army colonels.
“It was a coup led by combat-served, non-personality-driven officers,” he said. “I expect they were selected to be the image of the coup because they are respected and close to the (ordinary) soldiers. ”
ECOWAS is expected to release a statement outlining its next steps later on Thursday.
In July, an ECOWAS delegation failed to reach an agreement between Keita and the opposition, leading to large-scale protests against the government.
Leaders attending the bloc’s virtual summit said the political environment in Mali could destabilize the entire region.
“The events in Mali (have) .. have serious consequences for the peace and security of West Africa,” tweeted Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
The coup raised concerns that it could disrupt a military campaign against jihadists linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State operating in northern and central Mali and West Africa’s wider Sahel region.
France will continue its military operations in Mali against Islamist fighters, its armed minister said on Thursday.
Landlocked Mali has struggled to regain stability since a Tuareg uprising in 2012 that was thwarted by al-Qaeda-linked militants, and a subsequent coup in the capital plunged the country into chaos.
Report by Tiemoko Diallo and David Lewis, Additional Reporting by Paul Lorgerie; Written by Aaron Ross and Alessandra Prentice; edited by John Stonestreet
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