The summit of ECOWAS heads of state which ended on Sunday December 10 focused largely on the case of Niger. But the regional organization was also eagerly awaited in Mali. Neither the resumption of the war in the north of the country, nor the postponement sine die of the presidential election supposed to mark the end of the transition had not provoked any reaction until now. On the occasion of this summit, ECOWAS seemed no longer able to avoid positioning itself. In its final press release, however, it was satisfied with the minimum service.
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ECOWAS “ deplores decisions taken unilaterally ” on ” the implementation of the transition program that had been agreed. » Mali is not mentioned by name, the remark applies to other countries in transition periods – more precisely to Guinea and Burkina; the Nigerien CNSP and ECOWAS having not yet concluded an agreement, the country is not officially considered ” in transition » -, but this is the only reference to the postponement of the Malian presidential election, initially scheduled for two months, next February.
“ Renew the dialogue »
Three years ago, ECOWAS had harshly negotiated, with sanctions and at the risk of damaging its image, the duration of the Malian transition. The authorities in Bamako finally postponed the election last September, without setting a new date. But times have changed, other putsches have happened and ECOWAS, far from toughening its tone, today only aims to “ renew the dialogue “, ” for the inclusive implementation of the transition program “. A program therefore involving the election supposed to put an end to this transition.
Concrete decision which could allow this: the lifting of the travel ban to which the president, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mali, and their counterparts from Burkina and Guinea were subject. A ban which did not facilitate trade and which had robbed Bamako.
Read alsoMali: what does the silence of ECOWAS mean on the extension of the transition?
Kidal
ECOWAS even goes as far as “ congratulate » Mali for « the good proceedings » of its constitutional referendum in June. No reference to the multiple accusations of fraud, nor to the fact that the vote could not be held in certain parts of the territory, notably in the Kidal region.
On the conquest of Kidal, precisely, by the Malian army and its Wagner auxiliaries, or more generally on the resumption of the war in the north of the country and the breakdown of the 2015 peace agreement: ECOWAS, although a member of the monitoring committee of this peace agreement, simply did not mention the event. Neither to congratulate Mali, as some wanted, nor to denounce the breakdown of the peace agreement, as others expected, nor even quite simply to take note of it.
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AES
Long-term strategy? Internal divisions? THE ” low profile » of ECOWAS on Mali will in any case not be likely to worry the Malian transitional authorities. Nor their allies the Alliance of Sahel States (AES): the organization created three months ago in the Malian capital by the new authorities of Bamako, Niamey and Ouagadougou is not directly cited, but its competition is viewed negatively by ECOWAS which, in his press release, “ rejects any form of alliance aimed at dividing the region “.
Malian political reactions
“ No one can force us »
Hamman Touré is the president of MSAT (Assimi takokele social movement), an organization which was recently created so that Colonel Assimi Goita would run in the future Malian election and remain president at the end of the transition period.
“ If ECOWAS comes, there will be no taboo subject because the Malian people, through their transitional authorities, will respond very clearly. It is from there that we can move forward. But we are never forced, this is what we refuse. No one can force us to make a decision now. We are in no hurry because we have a lot of things, a lot of subjects on the table. We have some questions to deal with first. Force us? This will never happen because we have priorities before these elections “, he assures.
On the resumption of the war, the breakdown of the peace agreement, ECOWAS has not said a word. “ We recovered Kidal, but we never heard ECOWAS congratulate us. Thank God we have our Kidal now. »
“ As if ECOWAS had capitulated »
Ismaël Sacko is the president of the PSDA (African Democratic Socialist Party), member of the opposition platform February 20 Appeal to Save Mali.
“ We were waiting for ECOWAS to react and toughen up the tone, or to put in place a mediator when the Assimilate junta decided to postpone the elections. So this half-hearted position, somewhere it is as if ECOWAS had capitulated, it is as if the propaganda and threats of the junta had been right on ECOWAS. The Malian junta will have the feeling of having triumphed over ECOWAS and the entire political class, and it will go at its own pace “, he says.
ECOWAS did not comment on the resumption of the war in the north and the breakdown of the peace agreement: “ ECOWAS is missing the point. The Kidal war had no reason to exist, Kidal had not left the Malian fold. In relation to the massive assassinations, we expected strong condemnation from ECOWAS. We’re talking about Wagner. ECOWAS must take all its responsibilities in relation to the massacres which took place in Mali », he concludes.