West African bloc ECOWAS suspends Mali from its institutions after coup

WEST African leaders, meeting in a regional summit Sunday, suspended Mali from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bodies after a second coup by the Malian military.

“The suspension from ECOWAS takes immediate effect until the deadline of the end of February 2022 when they are supposed to hand over to a democratically elected government,” Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey told reporters.

“One of the decisions of the heads of state is that they should ensure that in the next few days a civilian prime minister is put in place to form the next government,” she added. 

After the takeover, the military agreed to appoint civilians as interim president and prime minister under pressure from ECOWAS.

But on Monday, soldiers detained transitional president Bah Ndaw and prime minister Moctar Ouane, releasing them on Thursday while saying that they had resigned.

The twin arrests triggered a diplomatic uproar