Top West Africa delegation goes to Mali to meet with junta

August 22, 2020

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Top West African officials are arriving in Mali's capital following a coup in the nation this week to meet with the junta leaders and the deposed president in efforts to negotiate a return to civilian rule.

The mediation efforts on Saturday come a day after thousands of Malians took to the streets of Bamako, the capital city, to celebrate the coup. The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS has strongly condemned the coup and said the high-level delegation will work “to ensure the immediate return of constitutional order.” ECOWAS also demanded the reinstatement of deposed president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

ECOWAS had said it is mobilizing a regional military force, an indication that it is preparing for a military intervention in case its negotiations with the junta leaders fail. The high-level delegation is to hold talks with the junta, including Col. Assimi Goita, who has declared himself the group's leader. Later the regional delegation will meet with Keita and the other detained officials, according to the ECOWAS program.

The widespread support for the coup shown by the demonstration in Bamako Friday means the junta may argue to the ECOWAS delegation that they enjoy popular support. The coup occurred on Tuesday when soldiers detained the president and forced him to resign and to dissolve the National Assembly and government. By Wednesday, soldiers from the junta calling itself the National Committee for the Salvation of the People had declared they were in charge of the West African nation and would work toward a civilian transitional government. Keita and his prime minister have remained in the custody of the coup leaders.

The international community has expressed alarm about the coup d’etat, which deposed Mali’s democratically elected leader who still had three years left in his term. Mali has been fighting against Islamic extremists with heavy international support for more than seven years, and jihadists have previously used power vacuums in Mali to expand their territory.

Keita — first elected in a 2013 landslide the year after a similar military coup — saw his popularity plummet after his 2018 re-election as the Malian army faced punishing losses from jihadist attacks. Then after dozens of legislative elections were disputed this spring, demonstrators began taking to the streets calling for his resignation. He offered concessions and regional mediators intervened, but his opponents who formed a coalition known as M5-RFP made clear they would accept nothing short of his departure.

On Friday, they welcomed the week’s developments but insisted they remained “deeply attached to democracy.” The junta has promised it will return the country to civilian rule but has given no time frame for doing so. Mali was not due to have another election until 2023.

Military juntas across West Africa have not always been in a rush to hand over power even when promising to do so — after the country’s March 2012 coup, the first democratic election was not held until the following August.

Mahmoud Dicko, an imam who led the political opposition to Keita’s presidency, told supporters Friday he was ready to return to his mosque. But he did not rule out a return to politics entirely, saying: “I am an imam, I wish to die an imam, but I won’t keep quiet about injustice.”

Associated Press writer Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.