The day after the statement from the Constitutional Court in Mali, according to which Colonel Assimi Goïta is now taking up the post of president of the transition, the latter left Bamako on Saturday to Accra in Ghana. He is taking part in the extraordinary summit of heads of state of the sub-regional institution.
as reported from Bamako, Serge Daniel
Assimi Goïta had the first talks with officials of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in particular the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Bassi Brou. This Sunday he will take part in the extraordinary summit of the Heads of State of the sub-regional institution. And like this Saturday, he will try to convince everyone.
In the delegation that accompanies Colonel Assimi Goïta to Accra, his most loyal head of the Cabinet’s cabinet, Minister Demba Daw, appears. There is also a diplomat from Malia’s Foreign Ministry.
Line of defense
Colonel Assimi Goïta’s line of defense revolves around two points. For him, by wanting to exclude him from the handling of state affairs, President Ba Ndaw broke the transitional charter. How did he then become chairman of the transition president with the title of head of state? It was Mali’s constitutional court that ruled, his relatives explained. (remember that under the former president IBK it is a disputed decision by the court that has aggravated the situation).
Another problem: texts adopted by ECOWAS forbid the military author of coup power to sit in the presidency. Here, too, Colonel Assimi Goïta has his defense. According to him, Malian laws allow it. He presents the case of a former Malian president wearing a uniform. But in Accra, allow the expression, it treads a little on eggshells. According to our information, there is agreement in condemning what happened here. The table of heads of state contains diagrams of how to end the crisis, with or without the return of the deposed interim president.
Debate in Bamako
Meanwhile in Bamako, the Constitutional Court’s ruling declaring the colonel the president of the transition and head of state debate. The press release from the Constitutional Court, which was released late on Friday night, seems to have surprised many political parties. The Union for Republic and Democracy (URD), the party of the late opposition figure Soumaïla Cissé, condemned the forced resignation of the transition president Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane. Today, the first Vice President of the Salikou Sanogo Party notes the confirmation of Colonel Assimi Goïta as the new President:
“What we are really looking for is to get out of this transition with the reforms we want,” explains Salikou Sanogo. There is no point in this transition if we do not have these reforms, because time will be wasted. We no longer want to return to the situation where there are endless disputes at the end of elections, legislation, presidential elections or anything else and that we are wasting our time in these disputes. Now is the time for us to have reforms that allow us to carry out elections worthy of the name
Many groups and associations condemn “the one-sided division of the transition process. “New Hope”, a group of parties led by former Minister Husaini Guido, the PDES or the “Save Democracy from the Putschists” association, calls for a civilian transition to continue and calls for mobilization.
The EPM Ensemble pour le Mali movement, a coalition of political parties from former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, will meet on Sunday to take a position on the Constitutional Court’s ruling. Meanwhile, former Minister and EPM member Amadou Koïta is calling for a civilian-led transition.
The debate also extends beyond the parties: among the constitutionalists there are those who approve, but also those who believe that the court’s decision is not based at all.
► To read also: What position will ECOWAS take on the situation in Mali?
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