With the amendment to paragraph 2 of Article 7 of the Transition Charter, published in the Official Journal, yesterday Thursday, October 1, 2020, according to which "the Vice-President is responsible for defense and security matters" and the presentation of detainees before a magistrate, the lifting of ECOWAS sanctions remains linked to the dissolution of the CNSP.
 

Indeed, one week after the appointment of the key bodies of the transition, namely a president and a prime minister, the country remains under the embargo imposed by the member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the day after the resignation of former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on 18 August 2020.

ECOWAS had conditioned the lifting of sanctions on the transfer of power to civilians. Appointed on September 23, as President of the Transition, the retired Colonel Major was sworn in before the Supreme Court on September 25, 2020. The next day, Sunday, September 27, Moctar Ouane, former head of Malian diplomacy, is appointed Prime Minister.

Despite these efforts, ECOWAS sanctions remain, even if they do not affect populations as much, since the import of basic necessities is not affected by the sanctions.

According to the resident representative of the president of the Sub-Regional Organization Commission, Hamidou Boly, "there are still small details to be settled at the level of the Transition Charter" to end the embargo, explained the diplomat at his exit from the audience with Prime Minister Ouane.

These include the attributes of the vice-president of the transition, who could replace the president in case of impediment or vacancy; the release of detained personalities; and the outright dissolution of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP).

 
ECOWAS had already rejected this provision of the Charter at its Ordinary Summit on Mali, held in Ghana last September.

Many Malians, especially political and civil society actors, have denounced an attempt to seize power by the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, whose President Assimi Goita holds the position of Vice-President of the Transition, in charge of security issues.

For more than 3 months, Mali has been without a government and has remained under embargo since  almost three weeks ago. An untenable situation for the new authorities, which should quickly begin the transition in order to lay the foundations for the stability of the country, which is plagued by many challenges.

All eyes are still on the CNSP, which has held and effectively exercised power in Mali since August 18, 2020. In any case, ECOWAS has made its dissolution conditionality for the lifting of  its economic, financial and political sanctions. How long will the CNSP's reluctance vis-à-vis ECOWAS last?

Aly BOCOUM