The Malian transitional government has announced that it regrets that sanctions against the country have not been lifted, despite the decision to suspend it taken two weeks ago by the Court of Justice of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
Since January 9, Mali has been under embargo by the regional authorities after disagreement with the ruling military over the duration of the transition.
However, the Malian authorities had initiated two procedures to have the “illegal, illegitimate, unjust and inhumane sanctions” lifted with immediate effect.
On March 25, while the conference of heads of state and government of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) was being held in Accra, the UEMOA court of justice decided to suspend the economic sanctions adopted against Mali by Ecowas and which it had endorsed.
These sanctions included the suspension of all commercial transactions except for essential consumer products and the freezing of the financial assets of approximately 150 individuals linked to the Malian junta.
Today, the Malian government says it notes “with regret, that despite the double notification made to it by Mali and by the court, the commission and the conference have not deigned to execute this order, which is immediately applicable and not subject to appeal.”
In the statement issued Wednesday evening, the government spokesman noted that “these sanctions blithely violate community rules, particularly the provisions guaranteeing the independence of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).”
“In any case, by imposing financial and economic sanctions, ECOWAS, not having the instruments to ensure their execution, relied on the tools of UEMOA,” the document said, adding that “from the moment the decision of UEMOA is challenged, ECOWAS should in turn suspend the execution of sanctions imposed.”
Consequently, Colonel Assimi Goita and his men say they denounce “with force this attitude which constitutes a flagrant denial of justice and is in contradiction with the requirements of the rule of law, which imposes the respect of legal decisions.”
Taking “the national and international community as witness,” the government calls on ECOWAS, the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) “to actively engage, so that UEMOA complies with international legality and the decisions of its own body of jurisdictional control.”
ODL/cgd/fss/as/APA