West Africa bloc maintains sanctions against Mali
ECOWAS is pushing for Mali's military - which seized power in 2020 - to stage elections within 12 to 16 months
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West Africa's regional bloc said Friday it would maintain sanctions on Mali over military rulers of the Sahel country delaying a return to civilian rule after a coup.
At the end of a summit in Ghana, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also issued warnings to the juntas that recently seized power in Guinea and Burkina Faso.
ECOWAS said military leaders in Guinea should provide "an acceptable timeline for transition" by the end of April, or it would slap punitive measures on the government and the National Transition Council.
The 15-nation bloc added in a statement that, if Burkina Faso's junta did not free former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore from house arrest by next week, "individual sanctions" would also ensue.
Talks in the Ghanian capital Accra came three months after the bloc slapped tough sanctions on Mali.
They opened "behind closed doors between heads of state,” Malian Foreign Minister Aboudlaye Diop tweeted.
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Assimi Goita, leader of Mali’s junta, was invited to the summit, according to an ECOWAS document, but it was unclear at the opening if he was in attendance.
The summit came about a week after an ECOWAS envoy for Mali traveled to Bamako, but the talks on restoring civilian rule were inconclusive.
ECOWAS is pushing for Mali's military - which seized power in 2020 - to stage elections within 12 to 16 months, but strongman Goita has so far defied international pressure to hold elections.