(5 minutes read)
· West African leaders ended a day-long summit in Mali
yesterday (25th July) without a deal to address the country’s escalating political crisis
· The June 5 Movement, named after the date when the protests began, is an organized movement against deep anger over Keita’s failure to tackle the dire state of the economy, corruption and the long winding jihadist revolt
· The Institute for Security Studies warned that there was an “unfavorable prejudice” towards the president, who is trying to protect his narrow interests
West African leaders ended a day-long summit in Mali yesterday (25th July) without a deal to address the country’s escalating political crisis. Five of the region’s leaders met Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and leaders of a protest movement clamoring for the President’s resignation. But the talks failed to yield results. Now, the Western African bloc ECOWAS would hold a summit on Monday.
The June 5 Movement, named after the date when the protests began, is an organized movement against deep anger over Keita’s failure to tackle the dire state of the economy, corruption and the long winding jihadist revolt.
The summit took place close on the heels of a five-day mediation mission from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) The summit also did not produce any results. The West African leaders examined the proposed solutions that had been crafted in behind-the-scenes talks between the president and opposition this week.
The Institute for Security Studies warned that there was an “unfavourable prejudice” towards the president, who is trying to protect his narrow interests. Keita came to power in 2013, Since then, he has come under increasing pressure to end Mali’s long-running jihadist conflict.
Mali is a poor nation with 20 million people and has been struggling to contain an insurgency that has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes since 2012. Tensions turned into a crisis on July 10 when an anti-Keita rally organized by the June 5 Movement turned violent. Despite the apparent failure of the ECOWAS mediators, the president’s camp and opposition figures had quietly been talking all week and the June 5 Movement notably suspended protests ahead of the forthcoming Eid festival.
