(Bloomberg) — The Economic Community of West African States threatened to impose new sanctions on Mali unless the nation’s military junta sets a timetable for a return to democratic rule.
The warning comes after Malian authorities signaled elections may not be held as scheduled on Feb. 27. Africa’s third-biggest gold producer has already missed deadlines to hold a constitutional referendum in September and a promised overhaul of the voters roll.
Ecowas, as the regional economic bloc is known, is considering “economic and financial sanctions” from Jan. 1, according to a statement issued after a summit in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Sunday. The bloc “strongly deplores that the deadline for the holding of the elections is likely to not be respected.”
Mali’s interim government, which took power after the military ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August last year, had promised to oversee an 18-month transition back to constitutional rule, culminating in elections in February. Last week, Malian authorities informed Ecowas that the timetable for the vote will be announced by Jan. 31 at the latest.
Mali has been a linchpin of international efforts, involving France and the European Union, to fight a growing Islamist insurgency in the semi-arid Sahel, which was headed for the deadliest year of Islamist-militant violence, with a record number of civilians killed in the first six months of 2021. Foreign Minister Abdoualye Diop said insecurity in the country means that only five of Mali’s 19 voting districts would be able to hold a ballot safely.
Ecowas said it’s equally concerned that three months after a coup in Guinea, there’s also still no date for elections there. Guinea is being run by an interim government after the putsch in September that deposed President Alpha Conde.
Ecowas “insists on the need to hold elections within the six-months period previously decided on,” it said.
The bloc upheld Mali and Guinea’s suspension from the bloc as well as sanctions that target the nations’ transitional leaders and their families.
(Updates with date for sanctions in third paragraph)
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