President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane resigned on Wednesday, May 26, are not in favor of international mediation, led by ECOWAS, which has already mentioned possible sanctions. Everything goes very fast. No decision has been announced yet, but sanctions can be adopted quickly.
Penalties have been swung since Monday as a threat, and Mali’s international partners still hope the transition can resume its first course. It did not take long before the prospects disappeared.
Gathered within the local monitoring committee, ECOWAS, the African Union, the UN mission in Mali but also the European Union, France or the US had warned and “rejected in advance all forced actions. By force, including forced departures”.
► Also for listening: Mali: President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane have resigned
Freezing of assets, suspension of AU, suspension of trading …
The European Union says it is ready for “targeted action”, individually targeting those who stand in the way of the transition. Obviously, it could be an asset freeze and travel ban for CNSP soldiers and their staff. On the part of the African Union, in the event of a coup, the country will be automatically suspended from Union bodies, even though the recent Chad case showed that there could be exceptions.
Otherwise more embarrassing are the sanctions that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) may impose: in the aftermath of august-coup, it had suspended trade and financial exchanges between Mali and the other Member States, which had severely punished the national economy.
Colonel Goïta approached to lead the transition
From Bamako, the RFI correspondent, Serge Daniel, reports that Colonel Assimi Goïta took care of the matter. According to Goodluck Jonathan, ECOWA’s special envoy, one of the options that stands out clearly is to see Colonel Goïta himself lead the transition. This is the trend that is emerging.
But Assimi Goïta needs allies. As he told the mediator, he thinks in particular of the M5, the movement that contributed to the fall of former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and which was initially absent from the ex-junta. M5 should speak soon.
It also remains to be decided the fate of Bah N’Daw and Moctar Ouane. In Bamako, it is said that they could soon be released. In any case, Mali must prepare for the coming sanctions. The Americans have already suspended military aid. ECOWAS will meet soon, while Europeans are already showing their muscle. An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was to be held on the evening of 26 May.
.
