Mali Coup: Jonathan to lead ECOWAS envoys for talks

 

Former President Goodluck Jonathan will lead a team of ECOWAS envoys to Mali for talks following the recent coup in the country.

According to a member of the new junta and an ECOWAS source, the leaders are expected to arrive in the West African country on Saturday.

The source described the mission to Bamako as aiming “to help the search for solutions,” days after mutinying soldiers took over power in Mali.

“We will receive the ECOWAS delegation with pleasure… it is important to talk to our brothers,” a junta official in the country told AFP on Friday.

The coup comes off the back of protests by Malians who took to the streets of the nation’s capital demanding the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Amid the lingering unrest in the country, Keita was overthrown on Tuesday by mutinying troops, who took him, Mali’s Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, as well as other senior government officials into custody.

Two days after the Malian leader was taken into custody, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced that it would dispatch a high-level delegation to the country.

The regional body explained that this would “ensure the immediate return of constitutional order” in Mali.

In a series of addresses, Nigeria has condemned the unconstitutional overthrow in Mali, calling for a swift return to democracy.