Mali: Buhari, ECOWAS leaders meet
President Muhammadu Muhammadu Buhari and other West African leaders are currently meeting to craft a solution to the current political crisis in Mali.
The extraordinary summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS is holding virtually.
The President is reportedly taking part from the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He is being joined by some top government functionaries including the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada; and Minster of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (retd.), among others.
Recall that soldiers took President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse into custody on Tuesday and drove the pair to a military base on the outskirts of Bamako, scaring off the civilian population with repeated gunshots.
The talks, which had been announced the day before, is being chaired by the president of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou.
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Keita’s overthrow came on the back of protracted conflicts that ECOWAS, as well as other conciliatory parties, have been unable to resolve.
The mediation team had proposed setting up a unity government that would include representatives of the protest movement, but the proposition was rejected by the opposition.
ECOWAS consists of 15 members, including Mali. However, following the hostile takeover by the country’s military, ECOWAS announced that it was suspending the country from its internal decision-making bodies.
It also directed its members to close land and air borders to Mali as a means of registering its disapproval with the actions of the military.
