The 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended Mali from the regional bloc following last week’s coup by Colonel Assimi Goita.
The decision was reached by the ECOWAS leaders during an emergency summit in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday when they discussed the development in the
poor West African country, which has been plagued with insurgency for the past years.
Mali’s second coup in nine months had sparked global fear that the country may degenerate into a civil war which may jeopardize the country’s presidential election in February 2022.
It was also feared that the coup may jeopardize the fight against the islamic militants in the country.
Mali’s coup leader and newly appointed interim president, Colonel Assimi Goita , was summoned to an emergency meeting of West African leaders in Ghana, after Mali’s constitutional court named him transitional president.
Goita had declared himself interim president after seizing power in Mali’s second coup in nine months.
Goita had on Monday detained interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane. They were released on Thursday after resigning.
He said he seized power because he was not consulted before the reshuffled cabinet that failed to name two prominent military officers as members, including himself.
