Mali transitional govt president meets ECOWAS delegates

Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan met the president of the new Malian transitional goverment Col. Assimi Goita in Bamako on Tuesday to mediate a transition towards elections in the country. Jonathan is leading a delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is mediating the talks together with the MINUSMA, the United Nations mission in Mali, and other international delegates.

ECOWAS has called for a new civilian prime minister in Mali to be nominated immediately, and demanded the formation of a new "inclusive" government. "It is important that the government be inclusive," ECOWAS commission president Jean- Claude Brou Kassi said on Tuesday evening. Goita was sworn in Monday as president of the transitional government, solidifying his grip on power after carrying out his second coup in nine months.

The inauguration ceremony in the capital, Bamako, came as Mali faces increasing isolation from the international community over the junta's power grab. The African Union has suspended Mali's membership and France has temporarily suspended its joint military operations with the Malian military to exert pressure on Goita to step aside.

Goita, who first seized power in August 2020 by overthrowing Mali's democratically elected president, eventually agreed to a transitional government led by a civilian president and prime minister. But two weeks ago he ousted those civilian leaders after they announced a cabinet reshuffle that sidelined two junta supporters without consulting him. Continued political instability in Mali, many fear, could further embolden Islamic extremists, who have been carrying out attacks for nearly a decade in the country’s volatile north.