West African body urges Mali junta to restore democracy

NIAMEY, Niger

An influential 15-nation West African bloc on Monday urged coup leaders in Mali to restore democratic institutions, according to a statement.

The call was made by Issoufou Mahamadou, Niger’s president, at the 57th session of the extraordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The socio-political crisis from last month’s coup in Mali and the COVID-19 pandemic were the meeting’s main themes.

"In Mali, the last legislative elections were contested following the proclamation in April 2020 of the final results by the Constitutional Court, which was the trigger for a protest movement that led to the coup d'état of Aug. 18, 2020, thus aggravating the political crisis," said Mahamadou, the bloc’s current head, in his opening speech.

According to him, the sub-regional community has the duty to assist Malians in the rapid restoration of all democratic institutions. He also urged the military to join this effort.

"The military junta must help Mali. We hope that it will respond favorably to the measures taken by our community. Other strategic partners of the Malian people have the same hope. Let's not disappoint them," said Issoufou.

He also recommended deepening the vision of an ECOWAS of the peoples with the decisive step of electing the members of the ECOWAS Parliament by direct universal suffrage.

His other recommendations included consideration of all crises as opportunities to accelerate regional and continental integration and the development of strategic new reflection.

The latter aims at "an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, led by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force on the international scene".

On the sub-regional fallout from COVID-19, the plan for a single currency called the Eco has been modified and will benefit from a new roadmap, announced Mahamadou.

"More generally, our summit must define the necessary guidelines for the development of a post-COVID-19 regional economic recovery plan, as all the programs have been negatively impacted by COVID-19," he said.