Today at 14 p.m., the emergency meeting of ECOWAS will begin. The new Malian President Assimi Goïta, at the origin of the two putschs, will be present. On the French side, Macron threatens to withdraw the French army from Mali.
The head of the Malian junta behind the two coups d'état, Assimi Goïta, visited Accra overnight. Newly appointed interim president by the Constitutional Court of Mali, he will join the ECOWAS talks. The West African bloc had deployed Goodluck Jonathan and Jean-Claude Brou in Bamako on May 25. Before the ECOWAS mediators could negotiate the relocation of ousted President Bah N'Daw, the latter had already submitted his letter of resignation. According to several media, including Africa Intelligence, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara is currently pushing for sanctions against Assimi Goïta. Ouattara, very close to the French head of state Emmanel Macron, seems determined to make Paris's wishes come true.
On the French side, Macron "threatened" to withdraw his soldiers from Mali. According to Macron, who denounced "an unacceptable coup d'état", Mali is moving towards "radical Islamism". A statement more than strange, insofar as since Barkhane settled in Mali, the country has never been more threatened by Islamist terrorism than now. Certainly, at the purely correlative level, the French presence is progressing more closely with the terrorist threat than the military rule in Mali.
ECOWAS Heads of State very involved
The Malian head of state, Assimi Goïta, left Bamako on the night of May 29. He will attend the ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit on the situation in Mali, at the invitation of Nana Akufo-Addo. During the day, Goïta will have a tête-à-tête with his Akufo-Addo. Then, they will attend the meeting together with other Heads of State and ECOWAS officials.
The meeting will start at 14 p.m. The two heads of state most involved in the Malian transition, Faure Gnassingbé and Mohamed Bazoum, will undoubtedly be represented. The Nigerien president had mediated the Malian transition on behalf of the African Union (AU) for two months. More unofficial, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé had forged strong ties with Assimi Goïta, trying to convince him to collaborate more with France.
However, it will be Ivorian President Ouattara who will weigh most heavily on the talks. Ouattara had suggested the sanctions applied on Mali after the first coup in 2020. According to sources in Journal de d'Afrique, he had spoken with Nana Akufo-Addo, president of ECOWAS, at least on five occasions. during the last four days.
According to Jeune Afrique, Guinean President Alpha Condé and his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou-Nguesso have also discussed at length with Assimi Goïta. Both presidents wanted to ensure that ousted president Bah N'Daw was treated properly.
Obviously, ECOWAS has already condemned the Malian coup. However, there is still room for maneuver for the talks. For Goïta, the installation of a predominantly civilian government is already under discussion, in partnership with the M5-RFP movement. Opponent Choguel Maïga will be Prime Minister of the new Malian administration. Nevertheless, the hot topic remains the relationship of ECOWAS with France.
Macron threatens, Goïta dodges
Indeed, in an interview with the Journal du dimanche, Emmanuel Macron warned that Paris would not stay alongside an “illegitimate government”. He also claimed to have "sent the message" to the leaders of ECOWAS countries that France would not remain with her hands in her pockets.
However, everything Macron threatened, namely Barkhane's withdrawal, would be a blessing for Goïta. Indeed, the head of the junta opposed the latest French military interventions in his country. His lieutenants even accused Barkhane of civilian murders. Charges that were confirmed by the UN report on the January bombing.
In recent days, demonstrations have also denounced French interference in Mali. The demonstrators also expressed their support for the military authorities and Assimi Goïta. Some of them carried Russian flags, and pleaded a partnership with Russia. According to the demonstrators, this would be the way to get rid of French interventionism in Mali.
Clearly, French threats, as long as they are a priority for the leaders of ECOWAS, are not for the President of Mali. Likewise, the possible sanctions of the Economic Community demonstrated when they were last applied at the end of 2020 that they were more harmful to other ECOWAS countries. What could ECOWAS mean to Assimi Goïta?