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| - The West African regional bloc ECOWAS announced Tuesday that it was ending sanctions imposed against Mali after a military coup in August, saying it wished to back the return to civilian rule. In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said "heads of state and government have decided to lift sanctions" after seeing positive steps towards a constitutional government. The 15-nation group imposed tough sanctions against one of Africa's poorest countries after president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was ousted following mass protests. The coup was bloodless but triggered widespread alarm among Mali's neighbours. A coup in 2012 was followed by an uprising in northern Mali which morphed into a bloody Islamist insurgency, claiming thousands of lives and threatening neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso. The ECOWAS sanctions, imposed on August 20, included border closures and a ban on commercial trade and financial flows but not basic necessities, drugs, equipment to fight coronavirus, fuel or electricity. Under pressure, Mali's junta endorsed a "charter" to restore civilian rule within 18 months and appointed a committee which chose 70-year-old retired colonel Bah Ndaw as interim president. Despite this, ECOWAS demanded further concessions. It insisted that the transition roadmap be published and refused to let junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita, who was appointed interim vice president, be empowered to replace Ndaw if he became incapacitated. The bloc has now taken into account "notable advances towards constitutional normalisation," said the French text of Tuesday's statement, signed by President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, who currently chairs ECOWAS. It also called on "all bilateral and multilateral partners to support Mali." The announcement came a day after Ndaw appointed a government, headed by former foreign minister Moctar Ouane, in which junta members were given key positions. Defence, security, territorial administration and national reconciliation went to colonels. But civilians were also appointed, including former prosecutor Mohamed Sidda Dicko as justice minister and former ambassador Zeini Moulaye as foreign minister. Former armed groups that signed a peace agreement in 2015 are also being represented in the transitional government while members of Tuareg groups that led a rebellion in the north were awarded portfolios. The coup came after months of protests over the country's bloody jihadist insurgency, economic struggles and chronic inter-ethnic violence. Despite its concessions, the junta, which calls itself the National Council for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), has still not met all the ECOWAS demands. The regional bloc on Tuesday reiterated its call for the CNSP's dissolution and for the release of civilian and military figures arrested during the coup. The "charter" endorsed by the junta also sets down the goals of re-establishing security across the nation, two-thirds of which are outside government control. It also establishes the aims of "restoring the state" and staging general elections. sd-siu/stb/ach/ri
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