This comes as the United Nations envoy for the Sahel and West Africa began a tour of the region from Nouakchott to discuss the crisis, while Paris and Washington supported the sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States on Bamako.
In New York, diplomats reported that Russia and China blocked Tuesday the adoption of a text in the UN Security Council that would support sanctions imposed by “ECOWAS” on the ruling military junta in Mali, while the United States rejected a 5-year transitional phase before civilians restore rule.
The goal of the text proposed by France is to reach a unified position in the UN Security Council regarding the rule of the military in Mali, which decided not to hold elections on February 27, contrary to what they had initially pledged, according to AFP.
On Monday, Russia demanded to find an “understanding” with the Malian authorities, in the wake of the unprecedented sanctions imposed by ECOWAS on Bamako, including in particular the closure of borders and severe economic and financial measures.
“We are disappointed,” Kenya’s ambassador to the United Nations, Martin Kimani, told reporters after a Security Council meeting that was followed by closed consultations among Security Council members, noting that the African members of the Council (Kenya, Gabon and Ghana) found the proposed text to be “relatively weak.” ‘, according to AFP.
A diplomatic source said that the text was limited to talking about “supporting the mediation efforts of the Economic Community of West African States,” according to the French agency.
In a statement read out on behalf of the three African members of the Council, the Kenyan ambassador defended the ECOWAS sanctions aimed at “accelerating the transition” in Mali and a return to constitutional and civil order, stressing that these measures do not impede humanitarian access to the Malian population.
For its part, the United States rejected a 5-year transitional phase before civilians regain control of Mali, supporting ECOWAS sanctions, according to what the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced.
“We urge the transitional government to honor the pledge it made to the Malian people to return the country to a democratic path,” the US ambassador said, according to AFP.
She added that “a transitional period that extends for five years is not in the interest of the people and extends their suffering,” and called for “free, fair” and “transparent” elections.
“We welcome the strong measures taken by ECOWAS on January 9 in favor of democracy and stability,” said Thomas-Greenfield, referring to unprecedented new sanctions – border closures and economic measures – taken by this regional body.
On the night of Monday-Tuesday, the US State Department published a statement containing the same phrases, stressing that Washington shares ECOWAS’s “great disappointment” at the “lack of movement or progress in organizing the elections” in Mali.
The State Department statement stressed that Washington “supports the decision of the Economic Community of West African States to impose additional economic and financial sanctions to urge the transitional government to fulfill the pledge it made to the Malian people to return the country to a democratic path.”
For its part, the ruling military junta in Mali called on the people to demonstrate on Friday against the sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States, expressing in return its openness to dialogue.
On Monday, ECOWAS considered the decision of the military junta in Mali to hold the presidential elections in December 2026 “totally unacceptable” because “it means that an illegitimate transitional military government will take the Malian people hostage for the next five years.”
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