ECOWAS welcomes the release of former interim leaders under house arrest

Former interim Malian President Bah Ndaw and his Prime Minister Moctar Ouane have been released from house arrest, the West African bloc of ECOWAS has announced.

In a statement released Friday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it “welcomed” Mali’s decision to lift “all restrictive measures” against the former leaders.

The two men were appointed interim civilian leaders after a military coup in August 2020, tasked with bringing Mali back to civilian rule.

But after a significant government reshuffle in May, Mali’s strongman Colonel Assimi Goita ousted Ndaw and Ouane in a second coup. Goita was then declared interim president himself.

Ndaw and Ouane’s aides had indicated that the two leaders had been kept under house arrest after their eviction.

The Malian government confirmed their release in comments on Twitter on Friday evening.

Respect the law
However, the government stressed “the need to respect (…) the law and to refrain from any action that could impact the smooth running of the transition”.

ECOWAS said the couple should enjoy all the rights associated with their role as former president and former prime minister.

The lifting of the restrictions follows an appeal by Ndaw and Ouane to the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which recently asked Mali to justify their detention.

Neither Ndaw nor Ouane have spoken publicly since they were sacked in May.

Goita, for his part, has pledged to restore civilian rule and hold elections in February next year.

However, there are doubts whether the government will be able to hold elections in such a short time frame in the shadow of widespread violence across Mali.

The government is struggling to quell a jihadist insurgency that first erupted in the north in 2012, and has since spread to the center of the country and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict to date.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated Islam and Muslim Support Group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack in August that claimed the lives of 17 Malian soldiers, according to SITE Intelligence, which monitors jihadist activity in the world.