THE STATE OF POLITICS in the West African subregion is growing increasingly complicated by the day. Amid tension and issues in Guinea, Ivory Coast and now Mali, it appears the regional body, the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) will have its hands full in trying to keep an eye on the happenings unfolding in the rapidly growing trouble spots.
ON TUESDAY, jubilant crowds cheered rebels as they arrived in central Bamako as tens of thousands of protesters called for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta to resign over what they say are his failures to address security and economic woes.
HOURS LATER, Keita bowed to pressure from months of protests over economic stagnation, corruption and a continuing Islamist insurgency.
A SPOKESMAN for the soldiers said they had acted to prevent the country from falling further into chaos.
THE SOLDIERS, calling themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, said they did not want to stay in power. “We are keen on the stability of the country, which will allow us to organize general elections to allow Mali to equip itself with strong institutions within the reasonable time limit,” said the group’s spokesman, Col Ismaël Wagué, the air force deputy chief of staff.
PRESIDENT KEITA, for his part, said, he did not want “blood to be spilled to keep me in power”.
PRESIDENT KEITA’S ouster comes in the aftermath of Parliamentary elections held in March, which were marred by violence in the north and center of the country. The March poll was the first to fill Mali’s 147-seat parliament since 2013.
VIOLENCE IN RECENT YEARS in Mali has led to the deaths of thousands of Malians as the country suffered sporadic attacks by jihadists as well as cases of inter-ethnic violence since unrest began in 2012.
FOLLOWING TUESDAY’S coup, the UN Security Council condemned the “mutiny”, urging the immediate release of the president and his officials. All troops should “return to their barracks without delay”, it said.
The African Union (AU) voted to suspend Mali. Its 15-member security council called for the “restoration of constitutional order” and the release of the president and other government officials.
WE MUST ALL hope and encourage the coup leaders in Mali to respect and maintain the peace and live up to their word that they have no intensions of holding on to power, because at the end of the day, any spillover into a neighbor next door, could once more trigger a dark side no one wants to dare.
ADDING ITS VOICE, the regional bloc ECOWAS said it was sending a high-level delegation to “ensure the immediate return to constitutional order”. The 15-nation bloc – which includes Mali – also said that it would suspend the country from its internal decision-making bodies.
ADDITIONALLY, several stakeholders including the African Union(AU), the European Union(EU) and the United States are demanding that the military leaders release Keita, Prime Minister Boubou Cisse and other officials detained on Tuesday.
FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON said on Wednesday that “the fight against terrorist groups and the defence of democracy and the rule of law are inseparable”, referring to the situation in Mali. “To leave is to provoke instability and to weaken our fight. It is not acceptable,” the French president wrote on Twitter, calling for power to be “returned to civilians,” for “milestones (to be) laid for a return to constitutional order” and for the Malian president and his prime minister to be freed.
DR. ABDOULAYE W DUKULÉ, Coordinator of the West Africa Center, and a former advisor to ex-Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf believe the reaction of ECOWAS and the international community was swift. “the coup is a clear signal to all autocrats, who use the democratic process to change constitutions to stay in power… the new “democratic dictators.”
DR. DUKULÉ ADDS: “The lesson for the subregion to prevent conflicts and social crises rather than put off the fire. If ECOWAS had pushed IBK to meet citizens halfway, the coup may not have taken place: free political prisoners; cancel fraudulent elections and new institutions created during the pandemic, address the education system on strike for months.”
VIOLENT SPURTS leading to elections in Liberia is already raising red flags for the unexpected and uncertainty over the December Midterm Senatorial elections.
ALL THIS AS NEXT-DOOR Ivory Coast too has seen wave of violence in recent days.
TENSIONS HAVE been rising in Abidjan, the capital since President Alassane Ouattara, announced he would stand again for a controversial third term in this year’s election, scheduled for Oct. 31.
OUATTARA, HAD only five months ago, announced his imminent retirement, pledging to “transfer power to a new generation.” But the 78-year-old Ouattara reversed course after Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who was to be the presidential candidate for the ruling Rally of Republicans party, died of a heart attack last month.
LAST WEEK, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets to protest Outtara’s decision, sparking violent clashes with security forces and supporters of Outtara.
SO FAR, ABOUT 58 protesters have been arrested, 45 of them in Abidjan. Some media reports suggest that in some instances, police reportedly allowed men armed with clubs and machetes to attack demonstrators.
DURING THE LAST MONTH, in Liberia, opposition figures Alexander Cummings, Political Leader of Collaborating Political Parties and Chairman of the Advisory Council, Rep. Yekeh Kolubah(District No. 10, Montserrado County and Senator Abraham Darius Dillon(Montserrado County) have come under attack.
WHILE VARIOUS international stakeholders have issued statements urging calm in Liberia ahead of the December poll, the signals from Mali and next-door, Ivory Coast and Guinea should serve as a gauging point of what Liberia must to avoid falling into similar predicament.
ELECTIONS are important to ensuring the stability of any nation, they set the tone of the direction of a country, especially one emerging from war.
THE WEST AFRICAN subregion has seen massive violence unfold over the past few decades. From Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Guinea, countless number of innocent lives have been lost due to bad governance, corruption greed and nepotism.
THIS IS WHY IT is important for those at the helm of power in these countries do all they can to steer their countries right and avoid the pitfalls and warning signals likely to bring chaos to their doorsteps.
EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, ECOWAS and regional stakeholders should do all they can to ensure that things do not get out of hand as they did in the 1990s that has left countries like Liberia still struggling to get back on track.
WAR IS NOT A GOOD thing, neither are coup d’etats but as the lessons and experiences have shown in years, past, the last resort could be a means to an end for a people fed up and running thin on patience.
WE MUST ALL hope and encourage the coup leaders in Mali to respect and maintain the peace and live up to their word that they have no intensions of holding on to power, because at the end of the day, any spillover into a neighbor next door, could once more trigger a dark side no one wants to dare.