Mali Suspended As ECOWAS Member Until Return To Civil Rule

Mali has been suspended from the West African Regional bloc, the Economic Community Of West African States, ECOWAS. The decision was announced after an emergency meeting of the bloc’s leaders in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday. Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Botchwey, said the Mali junta’s non adherence to the mediatory role of ECOWAS necessitated the decision of ECOWAS leaders. ECOWAS envoy, former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, had briefed the meeting behind closed doors on his mediatory trips to Mali. A communique released after the meeting stated that an extraordinary summit was convened to review the socio political crisis in Mali following the arrest, detention and subsequent resignations of the President and the Prime Minister of the transition on May 26, as well as to determine the next line of action for the transition. The heads of state also demanded the immediate release of the former President and Prime Minister of the transition who were kept under house arrest.