Colonel Assimi Goïta, President of Transition and Chief of the Juntus, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdoulaye Diop, are absent from this list.
Le Monde with AFP
The Prime Minister of Malian Transition, Choguel Maïga, and almost all of his Government are among about 150 personalities covered by individual sanctions recently inflicted by the Economic Community of West African States (Cédéao) Reveals an official document from the regional organization obtained Wednesday 17 November by several media, including AFP and [Nute] Africa. The financial assets of all those on the list – including the 121 members of the National Transitional Council, which acts as a legislative body – are frozen and they have the prohibition of traveling within Cédéao. These sanctions also strike their family members.
Colonel Assimi Goïta, President of Transition and Chief of the Junta in Power since the coup of 18 August 2020, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdoulaye Diop, are on the other hand absent from this list, on which Find 27 ministers in addition to the chief of government. No official explanation is provided to their absence in the Cédéao document. But according to several sources, Assimi Goïta and Abdoulaye Diop would have been dismissed to allow the transitional authorities to be represented on the future meetings of the West African organ and thus maintain the dialogue between the two parties.
The leaders of the organization, gathered at the top on November 7, had decided to inflict individual sanctions to those who, after two coups in one year in this country immersed in a deep crisis, delayed by them The holding of elections for a return of civilians to power. The CEDAO had indicated during this summit having received the official confirmation from the Malian authorities that they would not be able to organize presidential and legislative elections in February 2022, as the junta had previously committed itself.
“Increased political uncertainties”
The Government of Malien invokes persistent insecurity in this poor and landlocked country, delivered since 2012 to the actions of groups affiliated with Al Qaeda or the Organization Islamic State (EI) and the violence of all kinds perpetrated by militias self-propelled self-defense and bandits. Regular forces are themselves accused of abuses. Two-thirds of the country escape the control of the authorities.
In the document, Cédéao notes “the lack of progress in the preparation of the elections, including the absence of a detailed timetable” with a view to holding these polls “to the agreed dates”. Failure to comply with the maturity is “constitutive of the questioning of the essential foundations” of the Organization, says Cédéao, notes that the “increased political uncertainties” in Mali contribute to the “deterioration of the security situation” , itself likely to compromise the stability of the region.
The sanctions of Cédéao could serve as a reference to a number of partners who support Mali in the crisis. Starting with the European Union (EU), which has always announced that it would alleviate the positions of Western African heads of state in managing the Malian record. On November 15, EU diplomacy had announced to take sanctions against the members of the transition. Their nature should be specified in the coming days.
France, engaged militarily in Mali and the Sahel since 2013, also pleads for the adoption of European sanctions in the wake of Cédaea, as indicated on Sunday the spokesman for French diplomacy.