For several weeks now, Mali’s former prime minister Moussa Mara has been trying to hold talks with the country’s authorities. In meetings with the current prime minister, Choguel Kokalla Maïga, and defence minister Sadio Camara, Mara has called for a more inclusive transition, to ensure that the final phase runs smoothly.
His reaction to the announcement on Sunday, 28 January that Mali was withdrawing from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which the country co-founded in 1975 was, he says, one of “disbelief”. This decision, taken jointly with the juntas of Burkina Faso and Niger, and which was not the subject of any national consultation, could have far-reaching consequences for the organisation and the region as a whole.
Mara talks to us about the risks this withdrawal poses for the fragile economies of the three countries in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), and Mali in particular.
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