Leaders of the 15 member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held a virtual extraordinary summit on Mali yesterday, Monday 27 July.
The summit followed mediation efforts by five West African heads of state to reach a deal to resolve Mali’s escalating political turmoil. Those diplomatic efforts ended on Friday with no solution in sight.
The presidents of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal arrived in Bamako on Thursday to meet President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of Mali and leading figures in the opposition protest movement who have been out on the streets for weeks, demanding Keïta’s resignation.
The presidential delegation was led by the Nigérien president, Mahamadou Issoufou, the current chair of ECOWAS.
ECOWAS leaders fear that the impasse in Mali could further weaken a country at the heart of the fight against armed Islamist groups in the Sahel.
Protests by Mouvement du 5 juin
Throngs of Malians have responded to calls for civil disobedience made by Ibrahim Dicko, an influential Muslim cleric. The collection of disparate groups organises under the umbrella of the Mouvement du 5 juin, an alliance of political, social and civil society leaders.
Followers have been taking to the streets since May to demand Keïta’s resignation.
Although discontent over Mali’s economic distress, compromised security and reputed corruption has been seething for some time, what instigated the current turmoil was a decision by the Constitutional Court to overturn the results of voting for 31 seats in Parliament. The manoeuvre led to candidates for the party created by Keïta in 2001, the Rassemblement pour le Mali, getting re-elected in April.
This month, the protests turned violent when three days of clashes between protesters and the security forces left 11 people dead. Many opposition leaders were detained briefly.
ECOWAS-protester dialogue
An ECOWAS mission last week, led by the former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, suggested instituting a government of national union which would include members of civil society groups and the opposition. That proposal was revived by the most recent ECOWAS presidential delegation.
The mission suggested also that new judges be appointed to the Constitutional Court, which had previously been “de facto” disbanded by Keïta in an attempt to calm tensions.
These proposals were rejected by the Mouvement du 5 juin. Its leaders are calling for accountability for the deaths of protesters on 10-12 June and they demand that Keïta leave office.
Dicko told reporters on Thursday that no progress had been made so far through the talks and that the protesters have not found anything offered to them acceptable. “Nothing has moved for the movement,” he said.
Sahel boils over
Mali, with a population of about 20 million people, has been bedevilled by conflict which started in 2012 and has since tumbled over into neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.
Figures from the United Nations show that attacks escalated fivefold between 2016 and 2020, with 4,000 people losing their lives in violence in the three countries last year.
The unrest has also forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and led to the closure of countless schools.
Several armed groups in central Mali have been jockeying for control while exploiting the impoverished marginalised communities and inciting tensions between ethnic groups.
Foreign troops don’t scare protesters
The heavy presence of foreign troops has failed to curtail the violence. Allegations of abuse and unlawful killings by Malian forces have caused deep-rooted mistrust and hostility in parts of the country with little or no government presence otherwise.
“The regional security concerns are real,” said Demba Moussa Dembele, president of the Dakar-based African Forum on Alternatives to reporters.
“If the crisis lingers on, Mali is likely to descend into chaos, which will affect the morale of the military and weaken its fight against the terrorist groups. In that case, there is a risk that neighbouring countries, like Senegal and Guinea, will be affected, which in turn will affect other countries.”
Think tank verdict
The Institute for Security Studies, a leading think tank based in Pretoria, warned that there was an “unfavourable prejudice” towards the regional leaders, amid uncertainty that they were defending their own narrow interests in the negotiations.
“The search for solutions will have to take into account the need to improve the daily lives of Malians,” the think tank. Other institutions have reached broadly similar conclusions suggesting that other leaders from the ECOWAS sub-region are not welcomed by the warring parties in Mali.
Nana Abena Boakye-Boateng
* Asaase Radio 99.5 – now live on your radio. Tune in or log on to broadcasts online.
#asaaseradio
#TVOL
