Linus Aleke

The Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), last week slapped the military punta in Mali with severe sanctions to force the transitional leaders from its high horse to return the country back to civil rule.

This is even as a section of the military in Burkina Faso last week staged a failed coup that led to the arrest of eight soldiers who played an active role in the attempted forceful take over of government in the West African nation.

Earlier, the Community Parliament of Economic Community of West African States (otherwise known as ECOWAS Parliament) had attributed the return of the coup and political instability in the region to the incessant amendment of constitutions by leaders in West Africa to elongate their tenure beyond the statutory allowed term of office.

Members of parliaments and invited guests canvassed this view during a 2021 second extraordinary session in Winneba, Ghana. Meanwhile, Burkina Faso authorities last Tuesday arrested eight soldiers for plotting to topple the government, the military prosecutor’s office said.

The prosecutor’s office, in a statement, disclosed that one of the alleged plotters tipped off the authorities on Saturday to an alleged “plan to destabilize the institutions of the republic”.

The statement further revealed that an investigation was underway and the soldiers had been questioned.

Recall that the last coup in Burkina Faso occurred in 2015 when the military announced the dissolution of the country’s transitional government, a day after presidential guards arrested the interim president, Michel Kafando, and prime minister, Yacouba Zida.

Burkina Faso is the third country in the West African sub-region to experience a coup attempt in recent months.

In August 2020, Ibrahim Keita, president of Mali, was deposed in a coup. In September 2021, Alpha Conde, Guinea president, was ousted from office and detained by military forces led by Mamady Doumbouya.

The military also took over in Chad last year after President Idriss Deby died on the battlefield. This is aside from the coup in Sudan and disturbing civil war in Ethiopia, brewing civil unrest in Southern Cameroon, and terrorist activities in the Sahel region.

Both incidents have elicited international condemnation, and the African Union (AU) suspended the West African countries in reaction to the developments.

Burkina Faso appears to be especially vulnerable. Rising violence by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians last year, prompting violent street protests in November calling for President Roch Kabore to step down.

The Burkinabe government, at the time, suspended mobile internet service for over a week, and the tense situation led the United Nations’ special envoy to West Africa to warn against any military takeover.

However, the highest decision-making organ of ECOWAS met in Accra to reach a decision that would discourage the resurgence of coups in the sub-region, with particular reference to Mali and Guinea.

With the new sanctions against Mali, member states agreed to implement with immediate effect, withdrawal of all ECOWAS Ambassadors in Mali; closure of land and air borders between ECOWAS countries and Mali; suspension of all commercial and financial transactions between ECOWAS member states, and Mali, with the exception of the following products: essential consumer goods; pharmaceutical products; medical supplies and equipment, including materials for the control of COVID-19 products, and electricity.

Other punitive measures against the military junta involve freezing of assets of Mali in ECOWAS Central Banks; freezing assets of the Malian State and the State Enterprises and Parastatals in Commercial Banks, as well as suspension of Mali from all financial assistance and transactions in financial institutions.

Speaking during the Extraordinary Summit President, President Muhammadu Buhari noted that ECOWAS had resolved never to accept coup-d’etats; or unconstitutional take over of government, in any member country.

Represented by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Nigerian leader said, “it’s very evident that there is very strong resolve, which is why we are here today. We expect that the actions that will be taken will point the junta in Mali in the right direction.

“I think ECOWAS has shown that it has not lost its bite where there are concerns about issues of good governance and democratic enterprises in the sub-region, which is why sanctions against Guinea and Mali were imposed.”

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The latest sanction on Mali followed the announcement of a new transitional timeline by the Malian junta, which of course, was rejected by the sub-regional body.

The earlier timetable scheduled presidential elections in Mali to hold before 27 February 2022. This data is contained in the agreement reached with ECOWAS Authority on 15th September 2020.

Meanwhile, the calendar submitted on the 31st December 2021 by the transition authorities to the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, schedules presidential elections to take place by the end of December 2026.

This, according to ECOWAS, will imply a transition period of six and a half (6.5) years.

The Authority noted that important stakeholders did not participate in those ANR, thus reflecting a lack of consensus by national stakeholders with regards to the proposed calendar.

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Following the visit of the mediator to Mali on 5th January 2022, the Transition Authorities submitted on 8th January 2022, a new calendar scheduling the conduct of the presidential elections for the end of December 2025, setting
the duration of the transition for a total of five and a half years (5.5) years.

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The Authority said it finds the proposed calendar for a transition ‘totally unacceptable. ECOWAS further observed that the new calendar implies that an illegitimate military transition government will take the Malian people, hostage, during the next five years.

On the crisis in Guinea, ECOWAS noted that it remained concerned about the slow progress of the transition process four months after the coup. According to the communique issued, the leaders regretted the absence of a chronogram for the election and the non-setting up of the National Council of Transition (CNT).

Nonetheless, it directed that a mission be dispatched to Conakry to discuss the transition.

Condemning the amendment of the constitution to allow incumbent president another term in office, the Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, said: “While we condemn the coup in the Republic of Guinea, it is very important that we give serious attention to the new phenomenon of amending the constitution of a State before an election or before the expiration of the tenure of an incumbent president.

Amending a constitution to conform to current realities is not in itself a problem. However, when the proposed amendments to the Constitution protect the governing elite at the expense of citizens or will undermine the very nature of constitutional democracy, thereby granting the incumbent undue advantage to extend his mandate, then we have a problem.

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“The truth is, this practice is eroding the gains we have made as a community, sinking the region into more chaos, and creating a serious reputational risk for ECOWAS as an institution. If we do not take firm and very decisive actions against this ugly trend, ECOWAS will not only be perceived as a body of failed states but will indeed fail”.

Tunis added that ECOWAS could also name the hijacking of electoral processes, voters’ fraud and disenfranchisement, attack on free speech and the press, as vices that attack a country’s electoral system and take away from the core of democracy.