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In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it “welcomed” Mali’s decision to lift “all restrictive measures” against the former leaders.
FILE: Former interim Malian president Bah Ndaw. Photo: AFP.
BAMAKO, Mali – Former interim Malian president Bah Ndaw and his prime minister Moctar Ouane have been released from house arrest, the West African bloc of ECOWAS announced on Friday.
In a statement, 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 the August 2020 military coup, 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.
ECOWAS said on Friday that the two should enjoy all the rights associated with their roles 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 neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict to date.
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