The West African regional grouping has announced what it calls gradual sanctions on members of the military junta in Guinea for refusing to back down on their 36-month transition timetable, APA can report on Friday.
Regional leaders who were meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly as the head of Guinea’s junta Mamady Doumbouya was in the Malian capital Bamako to mark the country’s day of independence on Thursday agreed to introduce punitive measures.
These they say would be gradual and would be targeting leading members of the Guinean junta over their lack of flexibility in coming up with a timetable that’s agreeable to Ecowas about returning the country to civilian democracy.
This month marks one year since Doumbouya toppled Guinea’s civilian president Alpha Conde, 12 months into the beginning of his controversial third term.
Meanwhile junta leaders have criticised Ecowas’ posture, castigating Guinea Bissau’s President Umoro Sissoco Embalo, who holds the rotating chair of the organisation for his ‘lies’ against Guinea.
The sanctions against Guinea are against the backdrop of Ecowas’ attempt to deal with a series of coups in the West African sub-region, including those in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso where military rulers have announced transitional timetables viewed as inauspicious by the regional grouping.
Both countries had also faced sanctions.
WN/as/APA