By Our
Correspondent, BAMAKO Mali
Talks
between West African mediators and Mali’s military coup leaders ended on Monday
after three days of discussions without any decision on the make-up of a
transitional government, a junta spokesman said.
West Africa’s regional bloc
dispatched negotiators to Mali at the weekend in a bid to reverse President
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s removal from power last week.
But talks had focused on who
would lead Mali and for how long, rather than the possibility of reinstating
the president, diplomats said.
The coup has raised the prospects
of further political turmoil in Mali which, like other countries in the region,
is facing an expanding threat from Islamist militants.
Colonel Ismael Wague said
mediators would report to regional heads of state ahead of a summit on Mali
this week but, highlighting the backing the soldiers enjoy, the final decision
on the interim administration would be decided locally.
“Nothing has been decided.
Everyone has given their point of view,” Wague told reporters. “The final
decision of the structure of the transition will be made by us Malians here.”
Former Nigerian President
Goodluck Jonathan, who led the regional mediation team, said they requested and
were granted access to Keita.
“President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita
told us that he has resigned. That he was not forced to do so. That he does not
want to return to politics and that he wants a quick transition to allow the
country to return to civilian rule,” Jonathan told reporters.
Talks were taking place with the
threat of regional sanctions hanging over the junta, known as the National
Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP).
“(Mediators) will discuss this
with the heads of state so they can lift or at least ease the sanctions.
Sanctions are not good for us or the population,” Wague said.
The regional branch of West
Africa’s BCEAO central bank reopened on Monday.
Four sources, who have direct
contact with people involved in talks, had said earlier that Keita would not be
involved in any transition.
Two sources said a year-long
transition, similar to the one in Niger following a 2010 coup, was on the
table. Another source said the junta was eager to prioritise reforms over
elections so it could be longer.
Wague earlier denied reports by
French radio RFI that the CNSP wanted a three-year transitional government led
by a soldier and mostly made up of the military.
An African diplomat monitoring
the talks said that ECOWAS was keen to push for a “short transition” with a
focus on holding the elections and allowing an elected civilian administration
to handle the reforms afterwards.
However, several analysts warned
against rushing to fresh elections without addressing the corruption and
mismanagement that the soldiers and opposition leaders who led weeks of
protests in the run up to the coup complained about.
“We did that in 2012 and here we
are with another coup,” said Lori-Anne Theroux-Benoni, head of the Dakar office
of the Institute for Security Studies, referring to the vote that brought Keita
to power in 2013 after his predecessor was also ousted.
“We should be innovative and use the time of the transition to make the process of the reform irreversible,” she said. “This might take longer than what some international actors want.”
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