French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Tuesday January 11 that his country and the European Union support the “unprecedented sanctions” taken last weekend in Accra (Ghana) by the heads of state of the Economic Community of the States of West Africa (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (Uemoa) against Mali.
“We support” these diplomatic and economic measures, he told the Élysée Palace during a press conference with European Council President Charles Michel.
These sanctions are, among others, the closure of land and air borders between Mali and the other ECOWAS member states, the recall of ambassadors in Bamako, the freezing of Malian assets in central and commercial banks in the West African region. and the suspension of commercial transactions with Bamako except for medical and essential products. In its statement, the regional organization called on the African Union, the United Nations and other partners to support the process of applying these sanctions.
In response to these measures, Bamako announced the closure of its borders with the countries concerned and the recall of its ambassadors.
Speaking Monday evening on the subject, Malian President Assimi Goïta said his country “remains open to dialogue with ECOWAS to find a consensus between the best interests of the Malian people and respect for the fundamental principles of the organization”. While regretting “the illegitimate, illegal and inhuman nature of certain decisions”.
As a reminder, these sanctions follow the transitional timetable submitted by Bamako to ECOWAS, and which provides for the organization of presidential elections in December 2026, resulting in a transfer of power to civilians in 5 years. “We hoped that before the extraordinary ECOWAS conference, a careful examination would be made of the submitted timetable and a period would be given to discuss our proposal before taking a decision,” regretted the junta leader.
