President Muhammadu Buhari and former President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday met in Abuja over the political crisis in Mali.
Giving updates on the considerable improvement in the management of the crisis in Mali, Jonathan, who is the Special Envoy/Mediator to the West African country, said the mission given to him by the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was almost fully done, as a transition government with a largely civilian face has been inaugurated in Mali.
He said: “The President has been sworn in, the Prime Minister, and Ministers too. The military has only four portfolios for serving officers, and the government has taken off.
According to him, “We can’t do hop, step and jump like other developed nations of the world, but one is delighted at the successes recorded.”
It would be recalled that after the intervention by the military in Mali, ECOWAS leaders had insisted on a transition government led by a civilian, and return to constitutional order within 12-18 months, among other demands.
A two-year transitional government led by a president chosen by the army has been proposed by Experts appointed by Mali’s military junta on Friday.
AFP reported that the proposed deal was contained in a document that has been submitted to hundreds of participants at a three-day forum in Bamako aimed at mapping a way forward for the troubled country.
The transitional government proposal stated that the president would be a “civil or military personality”.
The ongoing dialogue, which is in its second is between the young officers who overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18 and civilian representatives, many of whom had taken to the streets to demand for the resignation of the ousted president.
Hours after the August coup, the coup leaders pledged to restore civilian government and stage elections within a “reasonable time”.
However, a major concern for participants at the ongoing forum is how long a transition government should last and what role the army should play. These issues have now divided the discussants at the ongoing talks expected to conclude on Sunday.
While the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has insisted that the junta hand over power within 12 months, an influential imam viewed as the figurehead of the June 5 Movement which waged a protest campaign against Keita Mahmoud Dicko, has also backed a swift return to civilian rule.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday led a team of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Mission to Mali on a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Jonathan, who is ECOWAS Special Envoy on restoring peace to Mali was at the State House to brief President Buhari on the update in the troubled nation, said Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
A file photo of the presidents of Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Niger in a peace talk meeting with Malian President and leaders of a protest movement clamouring for the resignation of their President.
“We told them that no international organization, including the African Union (AU), United Nations (UN), and others, would agree with their position. We continued to emphasize the need for dialogue,” Jonathan was quoted as saying.
According to Adesina, the former President stated that the Constitutional Court had been reconstituted and inaugurated, while vacancies in the Supreme Court had been filled, thus sorting out the judicial arm of government.
In his remark, President Buhari thanked his predecessor, according to him, for “the stamina you have displayed” on the Mali issue.
He counselled further consultations with the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic.
About a month ago, Jonathan was at the State House to brief President Buhari on the political development in Mali.
During an unexpected visit on August 11, the night before opposition-led demonstrations against embattled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Jonathan at a press briefing said “demonstrations do not solve problems per se”.
The lingering crisis led West African leaders in their quest to broker peace in the landlocked nation flew to Bamako on July 24 in the heat of protests calling for President Keita’s resignation.
However, as the intervention failed to seal a deal, Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou — at the talks along with the leaders of Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria — said Western African bloc ECOWAS would hold a summit on July 27.
The lingering crisis: The opposition movement continues to mount pressure on President Keita, who came to power in 2013, to end the nation’s jihadist conflict that has been ongoing for many years.
Despite the presence of foreign troops, the insurgency in the small nation of about 20 million people, mostly poor, has since 2012 displaced hundreds of thousands of people who are now homeless.
President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou arrives in Bamako on July 23, 2020, where West African leaders will gather in a fresh push to end an escalating political crisis in the fragile state of Mali. (Photo by MICHELE CATTANI / AFP)
In a recent violence according to French officials, a French soldier was killed and two others were wounded in a suicide bomb attack in northern Mali.
But much of the current tension was sparked in April, when the constitutional court tossed out 31 results from the parliamentary elections, benefiting Keita’s party and sparking protests.
Tensions then ratcheted up into a crisis on July 10 when an anti-Keita rally organised by the June 5 Movement turned violent.
Three days of clashes between protesters and security forces left 11 dead and 158 injured in the worst political unrest Mali had seen in years.
Seeking a way out, ECOWAS mediators suggested forming a new unity government including opposition members and appointing new constitutional court judges who could potentially re-examine disputed election results.
Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has adopted a declaration of formation of a Government of National Unity towards resolving the lingering crisis in Mali.
ECOWAS Heads of State and Government unanimously agreed to the formation of a Government of National Unity in which 50 per cent nominees would come from the government of the day headed by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita; 30 per cent would come from the opposition; while 20 per cent nominees would be made by the civil society organisations (CSOs).
These were some of the highlights reached at a virtual Extraordinary Session of the leaders of the sub-regional body on Monday.
The meeting adopted positions to resolve crisis sparked off by disputed parliamentary elections held in Mali, which had led to widespread riots, arson and killings in the West African country.
It was agreed that given the numerous challenges facing the country, some members of government would be nominated before the National Unity Government is formed. These include: the Ministers in charge of Defense, Justice, Foreign Affairs, National Security and Finance.
The Malian President was equally mandated to ensure the stepping down of the 31 parliamentarians who emerged from the disputed polls, while a by-election would be held as speedily as possible.
Also agreed was that steps should be taken to reconstitute the Constitutional Court in the country as soon as possible, while a commission of enquiry would determine and identify those responsible for the violence that led to deaths and casualties as well as public properties destroyed between July 10 and 12.
Equally resolved was that the government would step up efforts to secure the release of opposition figure, Soumaila Cisse, kidnapped since March, among others.
ECOWAS Commission is to put in place a monitoring committee for the implementation of all the above measures.
This declaration, which is expected to be communicated to relevant organs of African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN), also agreed to support Keita in restoring peace and order to Mali, noting that no anti-constitutional change of government would be accepted anywhere in West Africa.
The virtual Extraordinary Session of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government was attended by Presidents of Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Cape Verde, The Gambia, and Niger Republic, who is the ECOWAS Chairman.
Equally present was President of ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
President Muhammadu Buhari at the virtual meeting of ECOWAS leaders. July 27, 2020. Photo: Femi Adesina
In his remarks, President Muhammadu Buhari appealed to government and people of Mali to consider recommendations of ECOWAS Special Envoy, former President Goodluck Jonathan, and his team, in resolving the political crisis, saying a government of national unity would provide inclusivity and ensure peaceful co-existence.
Buhari, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, urged Malian political leaders to consider the fragile peace in the country and the likely spiraling effect on the sub-region.
“I wish to place on record, my commendations for the various layers of efforts, and especially, of former President Goodluck Jonathan, whose painstaking engagements as Special Envoy and Mediator, provided clear road-map to contain the crisis in Mali.
“I appeal therefore, to all the Malian stakeholders to consider the proposals for the reform of the Constitutional Court and the established modalities for resolving the continuous 31 seats issue at the National Assembly.
“Equally significant, is the need to address governance challenges, whose manifestations are at the core of restiveness across the country. In order to address these matters holistically, it is important that all Malians embrace the call for a Government of National Unity where inclusivity of participation in the affairs of governing their country will be a responsibility of each and every Malian actor.
“I wish to reiterate the imperative of compromise and concessions for a peaceful resolution of the current crisis which would be acceptable to all parties,” Buhari said.
The President commended the Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, for convening the Extraordinary Session to discuss the socio-economic, political and security developments in Mali, especially, following the outcome of the Parliamentary elections in the country, last March 2020.
He said: “Excellencies, dear colleagues and brothers, may I recall that last March, Parliamentary elections took place in Mali. Regrettably, results of 31 seats arising from those elections, provoked the spate of unrest and protests that became violent with tragic consequences in July 2020.
“We are still living and contending with the negative fallout from those incidents. Our organisation, the ECOWAS, using its instrumentality of peaceful resolutions of crisis and in the context of our Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, embarked upon a series of efforts to address this crisis, at the levels of Ministerial Committee, Special Envoy and Mediator and to a select-group of Heads of State and Government and now, the Authority of Heads of State and Government, at this Extraordinary Session, today.”
Buhari thanked Development Partners, the European Union, France, AU and the UN, urging them to continue to support efforts for national-regional security and stability of West Africa.
All ECOWAS leaders at the summit appreciated Goodluck Jonathan, who had been appointed Special Envoy and Mediator in the crisis.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in Mali on a one-day visit aimed at finding a political solution to the crisis in the country.
The President’s arrival was confirmed in a tweet by his personal assistant on new media, Mr Bashir Ahmad.
According to an earlier statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, Buhari’s planned visit followed the briefing by the ECOWAS Special Envoy to the country, former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The statement adds that President Buhari and the ECOWAS Chairman, President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger Republic had already agreed to meet in Mali to engage in further consultations towards finding a political solution to the crisis in the country.
The two leaders are expected to be joined by the Host President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Presidents Machy Sall of Senegal, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire respectively.
The arrival of President @MBuhari in Bamako. He is in Mali with some ECOWAS leaders led by President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic, as they agreed to meet there to engage in further consultations towards finding a political solution to the crisis in the country. pic.twitter.com/qzblArbaRE
“We will ask the President of Niger, who is the Chairman of ECOWAS to brief us as a group, and we will then know the way forward,” President Buhari was quoted as saying.
Former president Goodluck Jonathan has arrived Bamako in Mali, expressing optimism that the current crisis in the West African country would be resolved in no time.
Jonathan was appointed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a Special Envoy to lead the sub-regional body’s mediation mission in Mali.
Ex-President of the Feral Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan arrives Bamako with his entourage ahead of peace talks to save the troubled nation of Mali.
His appointment was communicated to him in a letter signed by the President of ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
“Given your position as the former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the great role and contributions your tenure offered to the maintenance of peace, security and stability in our region, I have the honour, in consultation with the Chair of the Authority, H.E. Issoufou Mahamadou, President of the Republic of Niger, to communicate to you, the decision to appoint you as ECOWAS Special Envoy for the socio-political crisis in Mali,” the letter read.
The former president is to engage in consultations with all relevant stakeholders involved in the ongoing dispute in Mali to ensure that a common ground is found in the search for peace.
As a Special Envoy, Jonathan is expected to facilitate dialogue with all principal stakeholders in Mali, including President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, opposition leaders, civil society as well as religious leaders among others.
Speaking shortly his arrival in Bamako, Jonathan said: “I arrived Bamako Wednesday evening with my delegation to begin my assignment as leader of ECOWAS peace mission to Mali.
“I’m optimistic that our mission will yield positive results.
“Our message of peace and progress has so far been well received by stakeholders.”
Idowu Sowunmi
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