Mali’s parliamentary head, who was forced into exile after last month’s coup, returned on Saturday to this nation in crisis, marking the first step in Mali’s path back to constitutional rule.
The 70-year-old Dioncounda Traore was by chance in neighboring Burkina Faso on March 21 when disgruntled soldiers stormed the presidential palace in Mali’s capital, ousting the nation’s democratically elected leader and overturning two decades of democracy.
While other ministers and associates of the toppled leader were immediately arrested, Traore remained free, though unable to return for fear of being detained.
Photo: AFP
Under intense pressure from the nations neighboring Mali, the junior officer who seized power 17 days ago agreed to return the nation to civilian rule, signing an accord late on Friday in the presence of ministers from Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.
The accord is a milestone for Africa and especially for the troubled western corner of the continent, where coups or attempted coups are still a regular occurrence.
“I am leaving for Mali with my heart full of hope. My country has known enormous difficulties, but I am leaving with the hope the people of Mali will come together to face this adversity head on,” Traore said at the airport before leaving.
The accord signed by coup leader Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo calls for the immediate application of Article 36 of the Malian constitution, which says that in the event that the president of the republic is unable to carry out his functions, the head of the assembly becomes interim president for a transitional period until new elections are held.
If the transfer to civilian rule is successful, it will mark one of the only times when sanctions and international pressure succeeded in peacefully overturning a military power grab in the region.
By contrast in Guinea, it took a horrific massacre by the military junta and the attempted assassination of the coup leader for the country to right itself following the 2008 coup. Months of sanctions in Ivory Coast failed to dislodge the country’s illegitimate leader last year, who only released his grip on power after UN airstrikes.
Meanwhile, West African leaders have lifted all sanctions imposed on Mali with immediate effect following the agreement on restoring the constitutional order, a statement from the regional body ECOWAS said yesterday.
The consultations between Mali junta leaders and ECOWAS authorities “resulted in the signing of a framework agreement on Friday, April 6 2012 for the restoration of constitutional order in Mali,” ECOWAS said.
“As a consequence, the Chairman of Authority [Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara], with the consent of his peers, has decided to lift all the sanctions imposed on Mali with immediate effect,” the statement signed by Ouattara said.
ECOWAS last Monday imposed a total embargo on Mali, closing all borders except for humanitarian aid, denying access to ECOWAS ports and freezing Malian bank accounts.
With regard to the armed rebellion in the north of Mali, Ouattara reiterated the position of the ECOWAS leaders which demanded strict respect for the territorial integrity of Mali.
He said the committee of ECOWAS chiefs of defense staff, which met in Abidjan on Thursday, had “adopted preparatory measures for the rapid deployment of ECOWAS troops to counter any eventuality.”
The statement, which did not give details, said these measures would be presented to ECOWAS’ mediation and security council.
World powers on Saturday welcomed the junta’s decision to step aside ahead of elections.
The junior officers who seized power last month have agreed with ECOWAS to give up power in return for an amnesty deal and a lifting of sanctions that the regional body had imposed on landlocked Mali.
The deal, brokered late on Friday, came amid growing concern at the situation in northern Mali, which is now torn between the Tuareg rebels who have declared independence and Islamists determined to impose Shariah law.
At the Bamako airport after Traore’s arrival on Saturday, Ivorian Minister of African Integration Adama Bictogo read out a statement from the 15-nation regional bloc, stating that the sanctions had been lifted.
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