Mali: Military, ECOWAS Talks End In Deadlock

Talks between West African nations and Mali’s new junta ended on Monday without a deal on how the country should return to civilian rule following last week’s coup, the two sides said.

Separately, they also said that ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita — whose return to office had been initially demanded by the regional bloc ECOWAS — no longer wished to resume duties.

The August 18 coup triggered shockwaves among Mali’s neighbours, fearing that one of the region’s most volatile countries would spiral into chaos.

ECOWAS — the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States — sent a high-level delegation to Bamako on Saturday, led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, to press its demands for the “immediate return to constitutional order.”

There were discussions on both sides, given that at this stage nothing has been set down, nothing has been decided, and that as far as we are concerned, the final architecture of the transition will be discussed and defined by us,” said the junta’s spokesman, Colonel Ismael Wague.

Jonathan said: “We have agreed on a number of issues, but there are some issues that we have not agreed. So on those issues we told the military officers the thinking of ECOWAS and we asked them to go and review.”

Comments

EndSARS: Protesters In New York Want SARS Operatives Sacked

Hundreds of young anti-SARS protesters on Sunday stormed the Nigeria House in New York demanding transparency in the disbandment of the police unit back home. The protesters said operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad found wanting should be sacked and not redeployed. Among them was Stephen “Papi” Ojo, the artist, model, and choreographer who stole the show as the ‘blue-guy’ in Beyoncé’s “Already” music video. The protest started shortly after the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced the dissolution of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Adamu also announced plans for a new arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps following the disbandment, and the constitution of an investigative team to probe the alleged cases of rights violations, among others. But the protesters, who bore placards with different inscriptions including, “We no want audio ban”, said they were not buying it. They argued that previous commitments announced by the force to change...

Open grazing ban in South irreversible, Akeredolu replies Malami

The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has tackled the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami, for faulting the ban placed on open grazing in the Southern part of the country. The Southern Governors had at a meeting in Asaba last week banned open grazing and asked the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to address the nation over the increasing rate of insecurity in the country. However, Malami who appeared as a guest on Channels Television on Wednesday faulted the ban, arguing that the governor had no right to do that. Akeredolu, who is the Chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum, spoke in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, titled, ‘ Our decision is irreversible and will be enforced ’. He asked the AGF to challenge the governor’s position on open grazing in court, adding that Malami’s comments were “ unfortunate and wicked ”. Part of the statement read, “I have just read the press statement credited to the Attorney...

Biden Announces Purchase Of 200M Vaccine Doses

President Joe Biden announced a series of measures on Tuesday aimed at ramping up coronavirus vaccine allocation and distribution, including the purchase of 200 million more vaccine doses and increased distribution to states by millions of doses next week. With those additional doses, Biden said there would be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans -- nearly the entire US population -- by the end of summer or early fall. He described efforts to combat Covid-19 as a "wartime undertaking." We now have a national strategy to beat Covid-19. It's comprehensive. It's based on science, not politics. It's based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed," he said. As part of the new efforts announced Tuesday, the US will buy 100 million more doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and 100 million more from Moderna -- the two-dose vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer and Moderna are working to step up p...

ExtMedia

Search This Blog