Sanctions loom in Mali, junta holds onto power
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The junior officer who grabbed power in a coup last week said Friday he plans to hold free elections and rapidly return Mali to its established order, falling short of demands by West African countries to hand power back to civilians in the next few days.
Mali's neighbors late Thursday gave the captain a 72-hour deadline to hand power back to civilians, or else face the closing of borders with landlocked Mali and the freezing of the country's account with the regional central bank. If they go into effect, the measures will be among the toughest imposed on a state in West Africa, where coups are still a yearly occurrence.
Coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo told reporters Friday that he "understands" the position of the regional body, the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS. However, he said that he invites ECOWAS "to deepen their analysis of the situation in Mali. We ask them to analyze the reasons that led to this coup."
Sanogo grabbed power on March 21 after a mutiny at the military camp where he is based. The mutiny was sparked over the poor provisioning of soldiers sent to fight a nascent rebellion in the country's north. Troops have been sent without enough equipment, and the junta claims that many were killed by the Tuareg separatists after running out of ammunition.
Sanogo asked the regional body to support him, saying the junta seized control of the country with the plan of "holding a rapid process of normalization, organizing free and transparent elections and a rapid restoration of the state." He gave no timeline.
In downtown Bamako, lines 50-people deep formed on Friday outside commercial banks. In the Niarela neighborhood, the branch of Ecobank told patrons they could not take out more than 500,000 francs (roughly $1,000).
Ibrahima Kante, an economist, was one of the people lined up outside the branch hoping to take out his savings to weather the coming sanctions.
"I think the banks are going to close because ECOWAS took a decision to impose sanctions on Mali. It's important that we managed to get a little bit of money out before that happens," Kante said. "I'm happy with this decision though because it will mean that the junta has to leave. If they don't leave, the population is going to rise up against them."
In Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where the regional body met to issue its threat of sanctions on Thursday, a senior advisor to Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said the captain's reaction is "basically the equivalent of telling us (expletive) you.'" The official who could not be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said that ECOWAS would go ahead with the sanctions as early as Monday unless "we see a dramatic turnaround by the junta."
The sanctions are likely to suffocate Mali's economy. The country imports its petroleum products from nearby Ivory Coast. With the border sealed, the country could run out of gasoline within weeks or even days.
The junta is accusing France and the United States of being behind the severe measures. A correspondent for Radio France was stopped at a checkpoint outside the four-star Laico Hotel where he was staying.
Junta officers handcuffed him for hours and forced him to his knees. They said they would execute him, taking turns aiming an automatic weapon at him. He says he was held from around 10 p.m. Wednesday to around 6 a.m. Thursday.
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Associated Press writer Martin Vogl contributed to this report.
