Security Analyst, Dr Festus Kofi Aubyn
Dr Festus Kofi Aubyn, a Security Analyst, has welcomed the decision by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to suspend Mali from the regional bloc.
The suspension follows last week’s coup d’état in which Mali’s Transitional President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were ousted by the military and placed under house arrest.
He said the suspension was welcome, but ECOWAS needed to intensify its engagements with the parties in the conflict and also ensure that other partners like the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), France, the United States (US), and all the critical stakeholders in the country (Mali) were involved in efforts to find lasting solution to the impasse.
Dr Aubyn, who made this remark in an interview with Ghana News Agency on Monday in Accra, acknowledged the efforts being put in place by ECOWAS to deal with the crisis in Mali through its collective security architecture
He recalled that since the crisis began last year, ECOWAS had been involved throughout the process leading to the 18 months transitional roadmap and also, supplementing that with mediation efforts led by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.
“I mean, what happened recently (in Mali) is quite unfortunate and ECOWAS again has taken the efforts to deal with the situation,” he stated.
He said the suspension of Mali from the regional bloc was in line with ECOWAS’s Protocol of Democracy and Good Governance.
He noted that according to Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, once there was a coup d’etat in any ECOWAS member country, the first measure was condemnation, suspension and then the possible imposition of targeted sanctions (coup leaders).
“The critical question that we have to ask ourselves is whether the suspension of Mali from ECOWAS will actually aid the efforts in finding solutions to the problem in the country?” He quizzed.
“Because if you look at the communique that was issued by ECOWAS, there has been what people will describe as a second coup d’etat, where the Vice President of the Transitional Government, who is military personnel, has overthrown the Transitional President and the Prime Minister.
“And then through whatever means the Constitutional Court has also granted him the full powers of becoming the President of the Transition.”
He said one would have expected ECOWAS to have asked Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali’s coup leader and newly appointed interim President, to hand over power to a civilian transitional President like they did 2020, but from the communique, ECOWAS was rather silent on that but rather called for the selection of a new Prime Minister and the formation of an inclusive government.
“I appreciate ECOWAS’ difficulty in the current situation; because as you recall Mali is the epicentre of violent extremism and terrorism within the sub region,” he said.
“And so, any decision you take on Mali without recourse to a context of the current crisis, you may rather end up aggravating the situation within the country.
“So, I see this particular move by ECOWAS as a pragmatic approach where they look at the issues from not only the actors in the current crisis but also the context within which the crisis is happening and the kind of decisions you need to take to make sure that you don’t rather aggravate the situation.”
Dr Aubyn said imposing sanctions on Mali at this stage might not be prudent, looking at the socio-economic situation of the country and the security situation within the country.
He said moving forward, ECOWAS needed to continue the mediation efforts but they must also make sure and ensure that the 18 months roadmap that was instituted in August last year, which ends in February 2022, was strictly adhered to by all the parties within the country.
He urged ECOWAS not to countenance any other interferences of the transitional process that was underway, adding that ECOWAS must make sure that if the military made any unconstitutional move again, there would be some targeted sanctions against the coup plotters.