The Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) will hold an Extraordinary Summit on the socio-political situation in Mali on Thursday.
The Directorate of Communications of the ECOWAS Commission disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
The summit, which would hold virtually through video conference, was convened following the military coup d’etat that happened in the Republic of Mali on Tuesday.
The Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government has been mediating in the crises and has sent several mediation and peace missions to Mali.
It noted that ECOWAS has strongly condemned the undemocratic change of government as it is against the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
“The Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government has been mediating in the socio-political crises and has held several Mediation and Peace Missions to Mali,” the statement added.
Recall that President Ibrahim Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse were taken into custody on Tuesday afternoon.
Keita, whose government had been beset by months of protests over economic stagnation, corruption and a brutal Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives, later announced early Wednesday that he had resigned to avoid “bloodshed”.
“If it pleased certain elements of our military to decide this should end with their intervention, do I really have a choice?” he said of the day’s events.
“(I must) submit to it, because I don’t want any bloodshed,” the ousted 75-year-old president said in a television broadcast.
The coup’s leaders appeared on television hours later to pledge a political transition and new elections within a “reasonable time”.
Malian Air Force deputy Chief of Staff, Ismael Wague, said he and his fellow officers had “decided to take responsibility in front of the people and of history”.
President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to participate in the virtual conference later today.
The Federal Government had condemned Tuesday’s coup d’état through Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
“The Nigerian Government unequivocally condemns the coup d’état that took place in Mali yesterday and demands the immediate and unconditional restoration of constitutional order. We welcome the urgent activation of the ECOWAS Standby force,” he tweeted on Wednesday.
Buhari, alongside some ECOWAS leaders, had in July travelled to Bamako on a peace-keeping mission but the meeting with the protest leader, Imam Dicko, ended in a stalemate.
