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A delegation from ECOWAS is expected this Friday, March 18, 2022, in Bamako. The mediator for Mali of the West African economic organization, Goodluck Jonathan, will try once once more to agree with the transitional authorities on an electoral timetable for a return to constitutional order in Mali. The presidential and legislative elections, initially scheduled for the end of February, have not been held.
Mali lives under economic and financial sanctions for two and a half months and the authorities have been seeking the lifting of these sanctions which heavily penalize the population. But little is known regarding the schedule of upcoming meetings. Neither ECOWAS, which confirms this visit, nor the Malian transitional authorities have communicated the agenda of the planned meetings. We just know that Goodluck Jonathan is due to arrive at midday.
This Thursday, the current chairman of the African Union, Senegalese Macky Sall, said he had met with Mali’s transitional president, Colonel Assimi Goïta, ” on the eve of the mediator’s visit. ” I support the resumption of dialogue for a negotiated solution to the crisis in Mali “said President Macky Sall. The African Union has already expressed its position: an extension of the transition for a maximum of sixteen months. ECOWAS wants a shorter extension, twelve months. It is the duration judged acceptable by the Ghanaian Nana Akufo-Addo, current president of ECOWAS.
On the eve of the visit to Bamako of the ECOWAS Mediator, I spoke today with Colonel Assimi Goita, President of the Transition of Mali. I support the resumption of dialogue for a negotiated solution to the crisis in Mali.
— Macky Sall (@Macky_Sall) March 17, 2022
On the side of the Bamako authorities, following an initial proposal of five years, reduced to four years at the beginning of January, numerous declarations have been formulated signifying an openness to compromise, in order to obtain a lifting of the ECOWAS sanctions as soon as possible. Some sources believe that an extension of twenty-four months might be proposed by the Malian transitional authorities to the ECOWAS mediator, which has not been officially confirmed.
