By Martin Odiete, Abuja

Heads of State of the ECOWAS region have reached an agreement with the Malian military juntas to the formation of a civilian transitional Government to run the affairs of the country in the next twelve months.

This agreement was contained in the declaration made available to the media after their video conference meeting held August 28^th between the Heads of State, the ECOWAS Mediator, H E, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the CNSP leadership, the military body currently running the country.

The Summit was said to have considered the report of the mission by the ECOWAS Mediator, which took place from Saturday 22 to Monday 24 August 2020, to assess the recent developments in Mali and noted that the ECOWAS delegation to Mali had several meetings, notably with President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, CNSP leadership, the Constitutional Court and the Group of Ambassadors to Mali. The Summit also noted that representatives of the African Union and the United Nations in Bamako, as well as the Executive Secretary of the G5 Sahel took part in the meetings.

The Summit took note of the decision of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign as stated by the Mediator; welcomes the release of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita as well as the other detained government officials; recalls the responsibility of the CNSP to ensure the security of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and the other government officials.

The summit emphatically calls on the CNSP leadership to immediately begin the process for a civilian transition in consultation with the Constitutional Court as well as all relevant parties and stakeholders, stressing that the civilian transition should take into account the following considerations:

– Appointment of a Transition President. He/she should be a civilian and known for his/her professional qualities as well as intellectual and moral probity and shall be responsible for leading the transition. The Transition President will not stand as a candidate in the next presidential election.

-Appointment of a Prime Minister, Head of Government, also a civilian, known for his/her professional qualities as well as intellectual and moral probity, and shall head the government under the supervision of the Transition President. The Prime Minister will not also stand as a candidate in the next presidential election.

iii) Quick establishment of a transition government to address the urgent challenges facing Mali and, in particular, to prepare the next parliamentary and presidential polls which may be combined elections.

iv) No military body should be above the Transitional President.

v) The political transition should not exceed twelve (12) months.

f) Once the decisions referred to in (f) above have been implemented, the sanctions stipulated in 13 (h) and 13 (i) of the Statement by the Heads of State and Government on 20 August 2020 shall be gradually lifted. This issue will be reviewed at the next Ordinary Summit;

g) calls for the urgent conclusion of a political transition agreement between ECOWAS and Mali and invites the African Union and the United Nations to endorse the agreement;

h) decides to set up a Follow-up Committee consisting of the Mediator, the Chair of the Council of Ministers, the President of the ECOWAS Commission and including the Representatives of the African Union and of the United Nations in Bamako;

The summit expresses its encouragement to the Malian people and reaffirms its commitment to help Mali emerge from this situation; while commending the Mediator and his team for the results achieved during their mission.

They expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu BUHARI for the considerable logistics support extended to the ECOWAS Mediation.