West African leaders lift sanctions on Mali and Burkina Faso

The West African ECOWAS partnership lifts economic and financial sanctions against Mali and Burkina Faso. Sanctions against Guinea will stand, ECOWAS leaders agreed at a summit in Accra, the Ghanaian capital.

Sanctions were imposed on the three countries last year because the government was overthrown by the military. For example, part of the sanctions was that other ECOWAS members were hardly allowed to trade with the three countries. Bank deposits were also frozen.

ECOWAS now accepts the proposals of the military regimes of Mali and Burkina Faso to restore democratic order. Mali promises to hold presidential elections by March 2024 and in Burkina Faso, democratic elections must take place within two years, that is to say before the summer of 2024.

Ivorian ECOWAS President Jean Claude Kassi Brou told a press conference that leaders in Accra had long been discussing the lifting of sanctions. Burkina Faso and Mali will remain suspended as members for the time being.

Same for Guinea. Moreover, the sanctions against this country remain in place because ECOWAS does not agree with a proposal by the junta to restore democratic order within three years.