In Mali,the plan for a military intervention by ECOWAS may have stalled
The new national unity government of Mali held its first cabinet meeting on 23 August. Two major tasks for the government are the organization of free and transparent elections, but also that the country regains its territorial integrity .
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/In-Malithe-plan...
On the question of reconquering the North which is in the hands of the islamist Ansar Dine, AQIM and Mujao the plan for a possible military intervention by ECOWAS seems to be against the wishes of. Bamako which it seems unfavorable to the military presence of ECOWAS on its territory.
The power seems not to lie with President DioncoundaTraore but with Prime Minister Cheik Modibo Diarra and the former Junta leader Captain Amatou Sanogo who has always declared his opposition to foreign troops on Malian soil.
The entire ECOWAS effort to assist Mali is liable to grind to a halt as its diplomats are frustrated and angryaccording to RFI. It quotes an African diplomat as saying "You can not cure a patient who refuses to be treated". The efforts of the past few months appear to have been a waste of time.
For ECOWAS this is not just a matter for Mali. The presence of AQMI and Mujao has international consequnces.
Earlier today AFP reported that President Goodluck Johnson of Nigeria had said that ECOWAS would definitely send its force to Mali once it had UN support. He said that negotiations were the first option but if these failed force would have to be used echoing France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. President Johnson id facing Boko Haram in Nigeria and is known that there is a Boko Haram presence in Mali. The security of West Africa and the Sahel is at stake.
Before it was said that the problem in the North could not be solved without achieving unity and a democratic government in the South. That may not now be the case. President Traore promised ECOWAS that their force would be invited to come to Mali after the formation ofthe National Unity government. If that is now not the case, ECOWAS and its American and European partners will hav to find a another solution. Mali may haveseriously miscalculated and the continued role of Captain Sanogo in the government of which he is not a member , has been criticised by the UN and other leaders.
The power seems not to lie with President DioncoundaTraore but with Prime Minister Cheik Modibo Diarra and the former Junta leader Captain Amatou Sanogo who has always declared his opposition to foreign troops on Malian soil.
The entire ECOWAS effort to assist Mali is liable to grind to a halt as its diplomats are frustrated and angryaccording to RFI. It quotes an African diplomat as saying "You can not cure a patient who refuses to be treated". The efforts of the past few months appear to have been a waste of time.
For ECOWAS this is not just a matter for Mali. The presence of AQMI and Mujao has international consequnces.
Earlier today AFP reported that President Goodluck Johnson of Nigeria had said that ECOWAS would definitely send its force to Mali once it had UN support. He said that negotiations were the first option but if these failed force would have to be used echoing France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. President Johnson id facing Boko Haram in Nigeria and is known that there is a Boko Haram presence in Mali. The security of West Africa and the Sahel is at stake.
Before it was said that the problem in the North could not be solved without achieving unity and a democratic government in the South. That may not now be the case. President Traore promised ECOWAS that their force would be invited to come to Mali after the formation ofthe National Unity government. If that is now not the case, ECOWAS and its American and European partners will hav to find a another solution. Mali may haveseriously miscalculated and the continued role of Captain Sanogo in the government of which he is not a member , has been criticised by the UN and other leaders.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/In-Malithe-plan...