President Akufo-Addo has called on the United Nations and all member states to lend their support to efforts being made by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to restore normalcy to Mali.
He said one immediate test confronting the West African regional bloc is the political situation in Mali following the coup d’état that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
President Akufo-Addo, who doubles as the Chairman of the bloc, made the clarion call when he joined world leaders through virtual means at the ongoing 75th UN General Assembly which could not be held due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“As the newly-elected Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), I say that one immediate test confronting the Community is the political situation in Mali, following the coup d’état that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, which has been compounded further by the activities of terrorists and violent extremists, who are in control of large swathes of that country and some parts of the Sahel Region,” he said on Wednesday, September 23.
He noted that terrorism impacts every part of the world and it was necessary for Member States to help West Africa’s regional bloc defeat the scourge of terrorism.
“We have learnt, most often through bitter experience, that terrorism and violent extremism are not restricted to particular geographic locations or jurisdictions, as the impact of a single terrorist incident in one part of the world resonates throughout the world,” he added.
Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta resigned after being detained by soldiers on Tuesday, August 18.
In a televised address he said he was also dissolving the government and parliament, adding: “I want no blood to be spilled to keep me in power.”
He and PM Boubou Cissé were taken to a military camp near the capital Bamako, drawing international condemnation.
Mr Keïta was detained by the military but later freed.
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