President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire arrived in Bamako on Thursday morning ahead of showdown talks with several of his peers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to sort out the crisis in Mali.
Upon his arrival in the Malian capital, President Alassane Ouattara was met by his Malian counterpart, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK).
According to sources at the Ivorian Presidency, Ouattara is joining his peers from the region in a mission led by current ECOWAS chair President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger to mediate a way out of the crisis in Mali.
For the past few weeks, Mali has been facing a serious political crisis pitting President IBK and his opponents who are calling on him to step down.
The presidential delegation, composed of Cote d’Ivoire’s Alassane Ouattara, Mahamadou Issoufou of the Niger, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Macky Sall of Senegal, is due in Mali after the failure of a first ECOWAS attempted mediation team led by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who on Sunday, ended a visit he began on Wednesday July 15.
Mr. Ouattara is expected to return to Abidjan at the end of the day, his office says.
LS/fss/as/APA