The West Africa bloc ECOWAS has hit Mali with sanctions after poll delay.
The Regional body says it will close all its borders with Mali and impose economic sanctions after coup leaders postponed the vote.
The announcement on Sunday followed an extraordinary summit of the leaders of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the Ghanaian capital Accra to discuss a proposal from Mali’s transitional authorities to hold elections in December 2025 instead of next month as originally agreed.
In a communique, ECOWAS said it found the proposed timetable for a transition totally unacceptable.
This timetable “simply means that an illegitimate military transition government will take the Malian people hostage”, it said.
The 15-member bloc said it had agreed to impose additional sanctions with immediate effect, including the closure of members’ land and air borders with Mali, the suspension of non-essential financial transactions, and the freezing of Malian state assets in ECOWAS central and commercial banks.
Meanwhile, regional monetary union UEMOA instructed all financial institutions under its umbrella to suspend Mali with immediate effect, severing the country’s access to regional financial markets.
