This archive report was first published on 24 August 2020.
On August 22, 2020, a West African delegation visited Mali to push for a speedy return to civilian rule following a coup. The delegation, led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, met with the country's military junta and ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Jonathan expressed optimism about the talks, stating that negotiations were going well and he was "very hopeful". The head of the delegation from the regional Ecowas bloc said that detained President Keita was doing relatively well.
"We saw him, he's very fine," Jonathan said, adding that the talks took place in a "very open atmosphere". Ecowas Commission chief Jean-Claude Kassi Brou also expressed optimism, saying that the talks were going "very well" and that the delegation hoped to finalize everything by Monday.
Ismael Wague, spokesman for the junta, also said the negotiations were going "very well". A source close to the junta said the Ecowas envoys had made a "good impression".
The delegation visited the Kati military base outside the capital Bamako, where the coup began and where President Keita has been held since the coup. Thousands of jubilant Malians took to the streets of Bamako on Friday to celebrate the toppling of Keita, who was re-elected in 2018 but became the focus of widespread discontent.
However, it was a different story on Saturday, when several dozen people who tried to rally in Bamako were dispersed by police. The Ecowas delegation will meet with the ambassadors in Mali of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council on Sunday morning.
Keita won election in a landslide in 2013, presenting himself as a unifying figure in a fractured country, and was re-elected in 2018 for another five-year term. However, he failed to make headway against the jihadist revolt that has left swathes of the country in the hands of armed Islamists and ignited ethnic violence in the country's volatile centre.
