New Telegraph

No headway yet on Mali crisis, Jonathan tells Buhari

Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday told President Muhammadu Bahari that the political crisis in the Republic of Mali has yet to be resolved. Jonathan, who is ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, according to a statement by Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, told his successor that the main opposition group, M5, continued to insist on the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali.

This position was unacceptable to ECOWAS which had insisted only on democratic process in change of power within its jurisdiction. Buhari and four other ECOWAS leaders had visited Bamako, Mali, last month, followed by a virtual extraordinary summit of the sub-regional body. Jonathan, who was in Mali from Monday to Thursday, last week, recounted his meetings with the stakeholders, including political and religious leaders, Ambassadors of US, France, Russia, Germany, European Union, and other important personalities key to peace and cohesion in the country.

“We told them that no international organization, including the African Union (AU), United Nations (UN), and others, would agree with their position. We continued to emphasize the need for dialogue,” Jonathan stressed. He added that the Constitutional Court had been reconstituted and inaugurated, while vacancies in the Supreme Court had been filled, thus sorting out the judicial arm of government. Buhari thanked Jonathan for what he called “the stamina you have displayed” on the Mali issue, and counselled further consultations with the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic.

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