ECOWAS holds Summit at Peduase Lodge over Mali’s political crisis

Some heads of ECOWAS states are arriving this morning for a consultative meeting to find a lasting solution to the political situation in Mali.

The meeting which is being held at the instance of the ECOWAS Chairman Nana Akuffo Addo also has the two sides in the crisis participating.

Presidents S.E. Patrice Talon of Benin, Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso, Jorge Carlos Fonseca of Cabo Verde, Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire, Adama Barrow of The Gambia and Alpha Conde of Guinea are among the Heads of State and Governments of ECOWAS who will attend today’s meeting at Peduase.

Others are Presidents Maro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea Bissau, George Manneh Weah of Liberia, Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger and Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria.

The rest are Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal, Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe of Togo.

The one-day summit will also have all the stakeholders in the Mali crisis in attendance, including the military junta in Mali, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, which seized power on August 18, this year, will be at the summit.

Meanwhile, deposed Malian President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, will not attend the summit.

The junta, calling itself the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, has promised to restore democratic governance within 12 months, following the intervention of ECOWAS, which sent a delegation, headed by a former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, to Mali on August 23.