International Pressure Piles on Mali to Stick to Vote Deadline

“In addition, persons and entities in the EU will be forbidden from making funds available to those listed, either directly or indirectly,” the 27-nation bloc said in a statement. 

International pressure is mounting against Malian authorities which recently signaled that elections may not be held as scheduled following a coup last year. Africa’s third-biggest gold producer has already missed deadlines to hold a constitutional referendum and a promised overhaul of the voters roll.

Mali’s interim government, which seized power after the ouster of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020, had promised to oversee an 18-month transition back to constitutional rule, culminating in elections in February. Last week, Malian authorities informed Ecowas that the timetable for the vote will be announced by Jan. 31 at the latest.

The West African nation has been a linchpin of international efforts, involving France and the EU, to fight a growing Islamist insurgency in the semi-arid Sahel, which was headed for the deadliest year of Islamist-militant violence, with a record number of civilians killed in the first six months of 2021. Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said insecurity in the country means that only five of Mali’s 19 voting districts would be able to hold a ballot safely. 

Ecowas said it’s equally concerned that three months after a coup in Guinea, there’s also still no date for elections there. Guinea is being run by an interim government after the putsch in September that deposed President Alpha Conde. 

Ecowas “insists on the need to hold elections within the six-months period previously decided on,” it said. 

The bloc upheld Mali and Guinea’s suspension from the bloc as well as sanctions that target the nations’ transitional leaders and their families.