Former president Goodluck Jonathan will lead other West African leaders to Mali on Saturday following the recent coup in the country, a report has revealed.
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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Thursday announced that it would dispatch a high-level delegation “to ensure the immediate return of constitutional order” after president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was ousted of power by a military junta.
Keita announced his resignation in a televised address on Tuesday, hours after he and Prime Minister Boubou Cissé were taken to a military camp in the town of Kati, near the capital Bamako, by soldiers.
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According to AFP, Jonathan, who is ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, alongside 14 other leaders in the regional bloc, will be in the Malian capital of Bamako on Saturday for peace talks.
The ECOWAS leaders are expected to discuss with the Mali military, including Assimi Goita, who has declared himself head of the junta.
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“We will receive the ECOWAS delegation with pleasure… it is important to talk to our brothers,” a junta official in the country told AFP on Friday.
The coup sent shockwaves around the West African sub-region, sparking fears that one of its most volatile states could collapse.
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ECOWAS has demanded that Keita be restored as president and warned the junta that it bore “responsibility for the safety and security” of the detainees.
On Thursday, UN human rights officials gained access to President Keita and the others, although the junta said it had released two prisoners, retaining 17 others.
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