Dw article :
West African leaders have said Mali must hold a presidential election in February 2022. They also called for the immediate appointment of a new civilian prime minister.
Leaders from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), meeting in a regional summit Sunday, suspended Mali from the bloc's institutions after a second coup by the Malian military.
"The suspension from ECOWAS takes immediate effect until the deadline of the end of February 2022 when they are supposed to hand over to a democratically elected government," Ghana's Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey told reporters.
"One of the decisions of the heads of state is that they should ensure that in the next few days a civilian prime minister is put in place to form the next government," she added.
Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo hosted the talks in the Ghanaian capital Accra after Mali's constitutional court named Colonel Assimi Goita as the country's new president.
Goita — who sparked outrage after detaining the country's transitional president and prime minister on Monday — arrived in Accra on Saturday for preliminary talks.
Akufo-Addo kicked off the Sunday summit with the leaders from the region by stressing the community's "commitment to a peaceful transition" while also warning of the "grave consequences" the political turmoil could have.
What is the role of ECOWAS in Mali's transition?
Goita drew widespread criticism for his coup-within-a-coup that threatened to bring Mali's planned democratic transition to an end.
The colonel had assumed the chair of interim vice president after leading a coup in August last year that removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
As interim vice president, he then forced interim President Bah Ndaw and interim Prime Minister Moctar Ouane to resign. Akufo-Addo said that this unconstitutional change of government was a violation of the transition agreement that had been brokered by ECOWAS.
The agreement stated that the interim vice president cannot succeed the interim president.
The junta's takeover has brought the promise to hold democratic elections in early 2022 into question.
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