AKUFO-ADDO JETS TO MALI TO MEDIATE IN POLITICAL CRISIS

The President of the Republic of Ghana , His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, left Ghana on Thursday, 23rd July 2020, at the invitation of the Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) , His Excellency Mahamadou Issoufou, President of the Republic of Niger, to assist mediate in the ongoing political crisis in Mali, as part of a delegation of ECOWAS leaders who have been assembled by President Issoufou Mahamadou to this end.

President Akufo-Addo will be joined in Mali by His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; His Excellency Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire; and His Excellency Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal. They are expected to hold stakeholder consultations with the President of the Republic of Mali, His Excellency Boubacar Keita, the Imam of Mali and Co-ordinator of the Opposition, Mahmoud Dicko, and Civil Society groups, with a view to resolving the impasse.

The President was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, MP; and officials of the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.

The President will return to Ghana later on Thursday, and in his absence, the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, shall, in accordance with Article 60(8) of the Constitution, act in his stead.

● HAPPENINGS IN MALI

Regional mediators are stepping up efforts today in the West African country where the political opposition has renewed its call for protests so that President Ibrahim Boubcar Keita leaves office three years before his final term ends.

Opposition leaders had rejected an earlier solution proposed by mediators from the 15-nation West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS.

An earlier ECOWAS mediation led by former Nigerian leader Goodluck Jonathan called for Keita to form a unity government and share power, but opposition leaders said the deal fell short because the president would get to remain in office.

ECOWAS said Keita’s departure is not something it can endorse. The president was democratically elected in 2013 and re-elected five years later.

His popularity has plummeted amid allegations of corruption and a relentless Islamic insurgency that began the year before he took office and has worsened under his watch. In June, demonstrators began taking to the streets by the thousands calling for his ouster, naming themselves the June 5 Movement.

Nearly two weeks ago, things took a dramatic turn for the worse when security forces attempted to put down the protests over several days. At least a dozen people were killed, and grief deepened the resolve of Keita’s opponents to seek his removal.

West Africa’s shuttle diplomacy has included several regional political heavyweights who helped intervene in 2012 when a military coup gave way to a jihadist takeover across Mali’s north. ECOWAS pressured the coup leader to hand over power to a transitional civilian government.

The year after the coup, Keita won the first elections organized after the country’s return to democracy.

Source: www.presidency.gov.gh || Communications Bureau