The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) voted at an emergency summit Sunday to suspend Mali from the bloc following the second coup in nine months by the country’s military.
The decision came as West African heads of State met in Ghana’s capital Accra to discuss the prevailing sociopolitical crisis in Mali and to determine the next course of action for the transitional government.
On May 24, transitional President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were detained by soldiers but released three days later, with the military claiming they had resigned.
The detentions amounted to Mali’s second coup within a year after army officers led by Colonel Assimi Goita overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last August.
The latest coup had given rise to several inquiries from the African and international communities.
On Saturday, the Constitutional Court appointed Goita as president following the resignation of N'Daw and Ouane.
At Sunday’s summit, the bloc decided to suspend Mali and called for the "immediate appointment of a new civilian prime minister" and the formation of an "inclusive government," according to an official communique.
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