Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo has blamed the military coup in Mali for setting the bad trend of coups in the subregion.
President Akufo-Addo, who is chairman of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), described the Malian coup as “contagious” and said it had inspired the “dangerous trend” that led to subsequent coups in Guinea, and Burkina Faso, and the failed coup in Guinea Bissau. He was speaking in Accra where a heads of state summit of the West African bloc was ongoing on Thursday.
The junta in Mali first came to power in August 2020, after ousting the late former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Nine months later the military again removed a civilian led transition administration it had installed under pressure from ECOWAS and the international community.
Towards the end of last year, on September 5, the military in Guinea also followed suit, removing President Alpha Conde. And on January 24 this year, the military in Burkina Faso removed President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
“Let us address this dangerous trend collectively and decisively before it devastates the entire region,” President Akufo-Addo said in his opening statement at the summit which was convened specifically to discuss the coup in Burkina Faso.
“This summit will focus on the emerging threats in our region that stem from the military’s interference in Mali and its contagious influence in Guinea and Burkina Faso,” the Ghanaian leader added.
All three West African countries currently under military rule are under suspension.
Mali was slammed with heavy sanctions last month, after failing to meet the bloc’s deadline to conduct elections by end of this February and transfer power to a civilian administration.
Further action is expected on Guinea, where the junta is yet to provide any clear timetable, despite a looming ECOWAS deadline of six months to conduct election.
Thursday’s meeting was attended by President Julius Maada Bio, Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire and Adama Barrow of Gambia, among others.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo represented Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.
The heads of state were yet to announce the outcome of the meeting as at the time of going to press.
Two separate ECOWAS delegations had been deployed in Burkina Faso to assess the political and security situations and then report back to the heads of state who will then take a decision on the basis of the mission’s findings.
